The Mirror Tells All
by Blue Taboo
Summary: Link returns home to Hyrule after a journey that has eaten the rest of his childhood. What he finds is a peaceful land on the outside, but a political scene full of turmoil he doesn't understand. Chapter 17! Oh there's the plot! I thought I lost that!
1. First

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda Fan Fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

As the ripples in the water began to fade out and away into the silvery surface of the forest pond, the eerie reflection came back to haunt the young man it belonged to once again. He couldn't help but notice that he had truly grown into the image of himself he had been able to glimpse for a short, but arduous pack of days, that were a future never to be. Some things were different, yes, with this the natural passage of years, but seven years would not lie, and the last time Link had gotten water from that calm little speck of water in this slightly familiar forest, the reflection had been the one he thought he would always have. It was not to be, though. His image had changed at the hands of time and was mercy to it, as it was with most other children.

The horse upon which he rode away from that pond had changed as well, from barely more than a foal to a proud, tall, rusty-coated mare that was one of the fastest he had ever encountered in all the lands she had borne him to. It had been a long journey, but one Link had put upon himself.

That day, when she had put the Ocarina back into his once small hands, he thought that all he had gone through, the trials, the hardships, and the grief over lost friends, was a vicious cycle, doomed to repeat with only his memory of it remaining. Thankfully, that wasn't so. She remember too, and her reason for giving him the instrument once again was that she believed he would do greater good with it, that is, until he returned it. She never said when, or how he should go about giving it back to her, only that he should take it for the time being, and help others as he had helped her, and all the people of their kingdom.

Link had obeyed with a simple passion. He bought the horse he had once, but would never steal, and rode out to stranger lands, away from Hyrule. His journey lasted for the time that he had once slept away in the Sacred Realm, but never did. He crossed plains, mountains, and even oceans, only stopping when he met that final ocean that would just take him back to Hyrule yet again. Rather than crossing it, he took the long way back, still obeying, and over the course of those seven years, he saved all manner of things from the evil he was sure that his own home was now safe from. Whether it was a god, a kingdom, a person, or even a bird, he had tried to do all that he could to help it. He had succeeded, for the most part, and one day, when he saw his reflection on a pond not unlike this forest pond, he knew, suddenly, that it was time to go home.

"It's just through those trees," he said quietly to Epona, out of an almost incumbent respect for the great forest that encased them. "We'll reach Hyrule before the sun sets and then we'll ride to the castle."

Link, despite all the people he had befriended along the way, and all those who admired him for what he'd done, had only one companion in all his travels. Epona never talked back to him, but she did listen. She listened and carried him willingly, along with all that he had accumulated over the years. Masks, instruments, and all sorts of others eclectic items lined his saddle bags, but she didn't mind the weight, nor the fact that her rider never seemed to stop growing. He was leveling off, though, now at the fringe of adulthood. It had been a wonder before to have clothes that actually fit, but he had several sets now that suit him well. In fact, he was wearing his newest, made especially for his homecoming.

He had showed the seamstress the tattered remains of the little green tunic and hat, then explained the rest of the outfit from forgotten future he required. All and all, in combination with the shoemaker and armorer, he looked nearly just like his memory of himself. His shield was old and worn, with a few slightly obvious repairs, and his sword was not indeed the Master Sword, but rather a gilded broadsword that came from a favor he called upon. His tunic was green as was his hat, and he planned to keep the look on her face in his mind forever when he met her again.

Throughout it all, that was his plan, to see Zelda again.

He couldn't help but wonder, if she would do the same as he did, and grown into his vision of the dead end future that she claimed to share. She had been very beautiful, as well as a powerful sage, but she was a only princess now, or at least he hoped. No, no, it had to be so, because he would've known if something had gone wrong. Nonetheless, he wanted to see that all was as peaceful as he left it in Hyrule, the only change being the marring, or possibly beautifying effect of age.

And that was why he ran Epona down that last bit of trail, out into the field, towards the setting sun. The forest was aglow with orange light as he raced towards its end, no longer able to contain his want for home. It had been so long and it was time enough. He wanted to go back, and to stay there forever. He had to. That was why it was called home in the first place.

In that instant when he emerged from the trees, the ruddy light nearly blinded him, only to pass and reveal the serene hilly field that was the center of his kingdom. It was quiet, as most places are near dusk, and peaceful. Link felt a burden lifted from his shoulders. All seemed well enough, in fact, it was slightly changed, but for the better. The once fading dirt roads were now all connected and full of wagon ruts. People were moving around and trading, so there couldn't be anything wrong. The Lon Lon ranch lay shillouetted against the nearly crimson sky, its windows already lit with a warm, welcoming glow and far to the north, the battlements of the castle town could just be seen over the rolling countryside. To the east, more trees encroached upon the land as the forest belonging to the Kokiri children staked its eternal claim.

"We're home," Link assured his mount as she took in the scenery. "We're home."

As much as he was reveling in the peace of his homeland, another urgency began to stir in Link's mind as he realized that the drawbridge to the castle town would be closing soon, and he'd have to wait out another night before he could truly be finished with his journey and see Zelda again. As soon as the fact dawned on him, he set his heels to Epona and they dove towards the gate. He wanted to see her so badly...to tell her all that he had done in her name...and to see her smile again...or just merely to see her and prove once and for all that his troubles and toils were not all for nothing.

He was galloping is horse so fast, that they nearly ran over the three strange guards who stood watch over the drawbridge, which was still down, and as he remembered it, usually unmanned. Epona reared as he leaned back on the reigns, but he was used to such sudden stopping, and took it in stride, more vexed over the guards than the idea of falling off his horse.

"Whoa there!" the left one shouted out towards him as Epona came back to steady ground, "I know you must be in a hurry, but be a little bit more careful there, lad."

"He nearly ran us down," another guard, who stood on the right of the three, commented as Link slowly approached.

"State your business, and it better be good," the guard in the middle prompted, "Seeing as you almost broke all of our necks."

Link thought it better not to ask the guards why they were there and simply used the excuse he had always used in Hyrule, "I'm a messenger of the Royal Family."

To his surprise, and dismay, the guards started laughing, nearly falling over each other in their revelry at his statement.

"Ho," the middle one began, "I'm afraid you're a little late, if that's the case, eh boys?"

They laughed again and the middle one continued, "So what's your real business."

"What do you mean late?" Link asked, trying to hide the desperate nature of his question. Had something happened? To the Royal Family? To Zelda?

"Hey, I think this guy's no joker," the left one offered to the middle guard, who seemed to be in charge of the three man operation.

"Maybe he mean's that he's a messenger for his Imperial Highness," the right one added.

"Imperial who?" Link asked again.

The guards then proceeded to stare at him blankly.

"Boy," the middle one said, looking right at Link and breaking the silence, "Please tell me that you are either joking and are an actor of sorts to boot, or that you have been away from quite some time."

"I have been on a very long journey, yes," he answered, feeling his urgency take over his calm exterior once again. "Just what has happened here?"

"...Ho boy," the boss sighed, "This is a story you're not bound to like much at all, unless you get the full explanation, so you best be letting your horse rest and getting out of the saddle for a while."

Link obeyed thoughtfully, though very slowly and asked again, "What happened? What of the princ--I mean the Royal Family."

"Well, you see--" the left guard began, but was cut off the a simple wave of his superior's spear.

"I'll tell the boy," he affirmed, then looked at Link, taking in the young swordsman with eyes that showed more compassion than they probably should have. "As I'm sure you know, even if you left here as a babe, our King was a very elderly man. Though he was in good health for his old age, time simply could not ignore him any longer. He passed away just about two years ago, leaving only his daughter, Princess Zelda, to the throne."

Link nodded. Though he barely knew the old King, only having seen him through a window a handful of times, or hearing about him from Zelda, he had figured that the old man would have passed on soon enough. He knew that he had no Queen, but not why that was so, and that Zelda was an only child. This was something Link had expected, and therefore, he was not shocked to hear it.

"But you see," the gruff guard continued, "Hyrule has always been a land of Kings. You know this boy, don't you? So when little Zelda was the sole heir to the throne, and unmarried, people started getting upset. They wanted to keep Hyrule a kingdom, not a queendom, mind you. So at first, they tried to get her to marry any noble they could find, even if she was a little young for it."

Somehow, that thought horrified Link. At that point, he knew there was something worse coming...something he did not want to hear, though he didn't know why...

"But she refused, over and over again. She wouldn't let herself be dumped off on any old rich man, even for the sake of her people. It ain't my place to say this, but you know, I think it might've been better if she did."

Link could hear the echo of a name that was slander in itself in his head. He did not want to think of such things, of Ganondorf even being able to take such an opportunity.

"The people just wouldn't have it. All different factions formed together and started fighting. Some of them wanted her to be Queen, others wanted her dead, and some even wanted to simply instate a new Royal Family, while yet even more impressed the idea of changing the entire way this land is run. It was a bad time, but it didn't last more than a few months..."

Link prayed this was the only "bad time". The story, while ominous enough, gave him hope that Zelda was still alive.

"Then his Imperial Highness came, with his army, and put a stop to all the nonsense and fighting with his soldiers. I don't know if your travels have ever taken you far enough from here to reach it, by his Imperial Highness is the Emperor of a the great Empire of Wrineria, which is so large, that sun supposedly never sets on it. I don't believe that myself, but I will tell you, his troops managed to get this place back in line very quickly. That was just about a year ago, right boys?"

The other two nodded at him, seemingly just as transfixed as Link.

"By the by, he annexed Hyrule, claiming it was only temporary, and saying that he would leave as soon as we could find a solution to the problem at hand. I don't believe that either, and neither to any of the boys here, or back in the barracks. I tell you, he's gonna stay here until he convinces us all to just be another part of his big bad Empire and then move on to do the same to another kingdom...not that it's my place to say...but still."

"But what about the Princess," Link found himself blurting out.

"Oh she's still up in the castle. I think the Emperor himself's got his eye on her, even if he's twice her age. Marrying her would be the quickest way to get Hyrule anyway, and that's what all the folk who work up in the castle say he's trying to do." The guard paused, thinking for a moment, then said, "You know, if you really do have a message to deliver, I guess you can deliver it to her. I can't see the harm in that, how about you boys?"

The other two guards shook their heads, indicating that there was no harm to be done.

"I know it's a lot to get used to, and I feel sorry for you, being gone all this time, so I'll let you in," the boss guard proposed, "but you're gonna have to leave the horse out here. You need special permission to bring a horse into town, since everything's gotta be regulated by the Empire nowadays."

Link stood silently for a moment taking all in, then let out a "Thank you sir, I appreciate all you've done," before sighing heavily.

"It'll be all right, lad," the right guard assured him. "After all, things do change, you know, and I'm sure everything will turn out well for you in the end, if nothing else."

"We can watch the mare for you too, if you like," the left guard offered.

Link ambled over to Epona, suddenly feeling weary under the weight of what had happened to Hyrule. It was no deed of evil, but a deed of another power he had never brought himself to understand. The only diplomacy Link knew was at the hands of a sword. It didn't quite make sense to him why his people would let this happen, but it had happened, and though he had once changed time itself, Link no longer had the ability to change the past...

But as he reached into the saddlebag, fumbling for that old familiar cool oblong shape amidst the clutter, he thought, that just maybe, he hadn't really lost it at all.

He still had the Ocarina, and that he was assured of as he pulled it out, the last of the sun's rays offering to shine on its pale blue surface...but could he still use it like that?

He would ask Zelda. She would know. He could still see her again...so all was not lost.

Another urgency rose in his veins, this one greater than all the rest.

"She can fend for herself fine, and I can call her if I need her," he told the guards, "But thank you once again. I will not forget your kindness, and I promise, that if I see you again, I'll at least give you the whole story, straight from the Princess' lips, since you were kind enough to tell it to me."

"Then I look forward to the day we meet again," the boss guard stated. "Now off you go, the town's gonna be locked up for the night soon enough, and no matter how much I like you, I can't hold down the bridge for you to cross it."

Link gripped the Ocarina of Time firmly in his gauntleted hand and ran off on to the bridge. "Until we meet again!" he cried after the guards as he reached the stone-paved streets of the castle town.

"'Shield-eaters and world leaders have many likes alike!'" one of the men quoted in a roar, much to the amusement of his fellow guards, just as the bridge started clanking up.

Link knew the old adage well, and couldn't help but smile at the irony.

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	2. Second

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda Fan Fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

The town was quiet, and not even the heard of dogs dared seem to roam its streets like they once did. There were lights in all the houses and a few of the shops, but no one was outside, even though the weather was more than agreeable. Link took note of this, thinking it strange, but simply flying past it in his run towards the castle. He wondered if he could still sneak in, or if it was even more heavily guarded, since now even the drawbridge was apparently in need of soldiers. He figured that he was find out soon enough and ran onward.

When Link did come to the path outside the gate, he could only see and a hear a single guard, who stood, looking bored, directly in front of the gate. If there were anymore guards in the entire front garden, then they had to be among the most silent of all soldiers, for Link could always remember being able to hear the clanking of their chain mail against the packed earth and stone of the walkway. Before he could see if his hearing served him right, he had to get past the only guard he could really confirm. That was simple enough, for the vines he used to climb on to sneak into the castle were still there, and now stronger and thicker than ever, even bearing a few white flowers here and there.

He jumped onto them and climbed his way up to the top of the little gorge with ease, and saw that he was in fact right, however, another problem stood in his way. There was another set of three guards, this time, at the front entrance to the castle, which was aglow with warm light, despite the encroaching purple of the early evening. Link knew of many ways to get inside the high iron fence of the castle, though, and not many of them involved the front entrance anyway. He gladly remained on the high end of the winding garden, and proceeded to the point where the ground just outside of the fence was higher than the fence itself.

He could jump into the moat from here, then reach the garden from there. The guards would have to walk in order to see what made the splash, and by the time they got over to where he had dove in, he would have been long gone. It worked that way seven years ago with the one guard, and on that night, it worked the same with the three. They just assumed that a rock must've fallen in, or maybe something larger. Link's splash was too big to be that of a rock's anymore.

By way of the moat, he came to a familiar outlet into the inner gardens, which were quiet as well, and surprisingly unguarded. The great armies of this Emperor the guards spoke of must have had their duties somewhere else that night. Regardless, all Link had to do now was find Zelda. Out of habit, or maybe something greater, he headed to the spot where they had their usual audience way back when. There was no place else he could think to find her, since she had always been there before.

And when he came upon the circular courtyard, with its own little moat, and flowers galore, that was even lit by a few lingering fireflies on that night, he felt disappointed to see only a figure in a blue cloak, tending to the potted flowers on the same place where he had met the Princess when he was only a little boy. It couldn't have been her...

Yet he took one more step, just to make sure it was some gardener or servant out for a breath of fresh air. In doing so, his boot met the gravely end of the stone path, and crunched, echoing off the stone walls and high windows of the courtyard, and ruining his former stealth. Rather than run off blindly and risk running right into a hidden guard, Link decided to take his chances with the gardener, and stood his ground as they turned to see what had made the sound.

A hood-shadowed face looked over one shoulder, probably suspecting nothing more than a squirrel, and seemed not to notice him.

Then, however, the person did a double take and Link heard a little gasp.

It was a sound he'd heard before...

The owner of the hood the threw it back and rubbed her eyes, and even in the fury of the motion, Link knew that he had been right in coming to the courtyard all along, even if the long golden hair was not enough to give it away.

Princess Zelda stood unmasked, her face just as beautiful as he remembered it being after these seven years, but marred with confusion and possibly even...terror?

"Please," she uttered softly, "Tell me that you aren't a ghost?"

A ghost?

"Why would I be...unless you're not Princess Zelda," Link replied simply.

"Is it really you? Are you Link?" she demanded, her once soft voice now full of the desire to know.

"Yes," he assured her. "I've come back."

That was all she needed to run to him, but rather than embrace him like an old friend and fellow savior of Hyrule, she stopped just short and looked at him closely, still regarding him with limited suspicion. Needless to say, it was not the welcome Link had expected.

"What am I kidding," she said after a seemingly endless silence between them, "I knew you'd look this way, and you probably remember me like this too."

Link then allowed himself to feel relieved. She did remember. It did happen. It wasn't for nothing. She had to be Zelda.

"I do. I remember everything."

Zelda herself then looked as if a burden had been take from her as well. It was a burden, being the only one around to carry the knowledge of what could have been. "And for that," she told Link, "I am very glad...but how did you get into the castle?"

"The same way I always did, but the men outside of town let me in after they told me what had happened. Princess...you have to tell me what's going on because--"

Link was cut off as a man's voice echoed through the stone walls of the inner gardens. "Dear Princess! I know you're here somewhere!"

"Oh of all the times in the world!" a sudden rage emanated from Zelda's words as she now whispered, "Terinae is calling for me now!"

"Terinae?" Link inquired.

Zelda shushed him as quietly as she could. "Don't let your voice echo," she advised softly. "The men told you about the Emperor, right?"

Link nodded in response.

"Well, that's him. Emperor Terinae, and I don't think he'll like the idea of strange people being able to sneak into the castle. He forgets that we aren't technically part of his Empire..." she explained.

"I can leave, if you want me to..." Link whispered resignedly.

"No, no...there's too much I have to tell you, and you me, I'm sure. You just need a reason to be here..." She pondered for a moment in silence. Still as quick-witted as Link remembered, Zelda then blurted out, "We'll say you're the son of one of my late father's knights and that you and I played together as children. The rest we can make up from there."

And as soon as the last word left her, she was off towards the hedge mazes that made up a majority of the rest of the gardens and following the resounding echo of the Emperor. Link found himself at a loss for words on the situation, but he simply followed, though with a great deal less haste, and much more apprehension. Somehow, it didn't seem wise for him to be meeting this Emperor, face to face, and under such lies, but he knew that Zelda was not named a Sage for nothing, and that she did, after all, carry the Triforce of Wisdom for a reason.

"Oh there you are! Roaming around here at all hours of the night, as usual," came the voice again, as Zelda obviously found the fabled Emperor. His voice was light and unexpectedly so. Perhaps, he was a kind man of his word, and not as deceptive as the men at the bridge had made him out to be. At least, this was what Link hoped. Through all the wrongs he had set to right, and all the foes he'd faced, Link felt a strange dread at the idea of battling this particular beast, one who may have the body of an ordinary man, but legions at his disposal enough to make a fight pointlessly unfair.

"Actually, I had a purpose in being here tonight," Zelda echoed across the dim gardens.

"Oh, and what is that?"

"A dear old friend of mine has just come home to Hyrule after a long journey, and we were talking of old times."

"Really now? Where is this old friend of yours?"

It was then that Link found his way to the voices that spoke of him, and he found Zelda standing next to a tall man, who could have been none other than Emperor Terinae. He was just reaching middle age, his nearly black short-cropped hair showing signs of grey here and there, but he had the appearance rather of an experienced soldier than a regal monarch. His face was inquisitive and weather-worn, and he wore what seemed to be a strange uniform that included a great deal of gilded metal, with the only other distinguishing factor to it being a short blue cape that had on it strange designs embroidered in gold.

As Link sized him up, Terinae did the same to the younger swordsman. The Emperor was a soldier indeed, and no facade of armor was necessary to tell Link that as he observed how the man looked at him. It was as if a mutual understanding passed between the two, and they both knew, as all fighters do, that their match, should it ever come to pass, would be an interesting one.

"Well, young man, you must have just arrived, seeing as how you still have all of your equipment about you."

Link had learned in his travels to accept the weight of a sword and shield, if nothing else, as part of himself, and therefore barely even noticed that he had them on. He could not respond before Zelda began to weave her tale about him.

"Your Highness," she addressed the Emperor, "I would like you to meet my best friend from when I was little girl. This is Link, the son of one of Hyrule's finest knights."

"It's a pleasure," the Emperor said, his demeanor suddenly changing in the slightest way, taking a turn from fighter to leader.

Link nodded, allowing Zelda to continue.

"And Link, this is his Imperial Highness, Emperor Terinae."

"Even though I've only been back for a short while, I have heard much about you...Your Highness." The last bit was hard for Link to get past his lips. It came out sounding strained, but it was the best he could do. Somehow, it pained him to think that this stranger was now technically in charge of his land, and Zelda was not.

"It is unfortunate that we could've not met before, but I guess that I'm to assume that you have been away from your land for a great deal of time, at least for one so young as yourself, Master Link."

Link opened his mouth to speak, if simply to affirm the Emperor's suspicions, but Zelda beat him to it, lying even further.

"He's been gone ever since his father passed away, which was very long ago. He was sent to live with relatives in another kingdom, and to train to be a Knight there."

The Emperor nodded and then asked, "So you've returned to Hyrule to gain Knighthood, I assume."

Link was now more confused than ever. In his limited experience with lying and deceit, he had learned that it was best to keep it simple, just so one wouldn't have to end up tripping over one's own lie in the end, but Zelda seemed bent on fabricating a great story to give further purpose to his being there, and one quick look at her demanding violet eyes told Link what his answer should be.

"Yes."

"Well," the Emperor began, "I would think that all these changes must have upset you somewhat, and that your journey has indeed been a tiring one. There are plenty of places in the castle for you to rest, and I think that you are owed at least that, in your case, until all has been set to right here in Hyrule and you can be properly knighted."

"That's just what we were discussing when you called," Zelda butted in.

"Ah, that's all very well then! I'll head in first and call someone to prepare a room for you so that you may continue your conversation with the Princess. It is always a pleasure for me to meet any friend of hers."

Link nodded in response, unsure of what to say and at a loss for much else, with all the whirlwind of change that was going around him.

The Emperor left with a smile, looking genuine and genial, completely unlike the man Link had first set eyes on just moments before.

Zelda waited until she heard a great oak door close not far off from the place where they stood before she dared speak again. "Good, good," she complimented mostly herself, "He's thoroughly convinced. Link, now I have plenty of time to tell you everything, since it appears that you'll be staying here. I know everything must seem so strange to you, but please, just try to go along with it? I've found that's the best thing to do."

Link listened intently, although he couldn't help but ask, "Why did you have to lie about all those things? Couldn't you just say I was a messenger, like you did before?"

Zelda then laughed, much to his surprise. "Hearing you say that almost makes me think I should have, but no, Link, because then I couldn't talk to you. It's all well for a little girl to go gallivanting around with servant children and forgetting she's a princess, but we're too old for games like that now, and the situation at hand is too complicated. No, this is the best way. Will you trust me on that?"

She was smiling, so it couldn't be all that bad or wrong. Link knew that he was embarking on a different kind of journey, on that would take him into unfamiliar territory, but not any kind that you could chart on a map. He was going inside the castle walls, and not just to visit the gardens. The idea was strange to him, and something deep inside him languished it, but he trusted Zelda. He never thought that anything she said would lead him astray.

"I will."

It seemed to make her happy, which was all Link could care about. "I'll tell you everything you need to know," she affirmed, "Just listen to me and don't let Terinae catch you off your guard. We'll make a Knight out of you yet, fairy boy."

The last comment brought a smile to Link's worried face. Those, he decided were times that he had nothing to do with but cherish. The Hyrule of his childhood was gone, but not forgotten.

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	3. Third

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda Fan Fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

What then began was nothing like Link could ever imagine. Surely he'd wandered from place to place in the past seven years, and had traveled throughout half of the known world, journeying into the unknown as well a few times, but he had always been the helpful commoner, not a Knight or a Lord or anything like that. As soon as he entered the warm glow of the castle halls, though, he entered a new life, one that had been made up by his Princess for what she believed to be the best.

He followed her in silence, trying not to look like a fool as he took in the new scenery with great awe. Before, such glimpses were only given from the vantage point of the few tiny windows that overlooked the garden. The way he had looked inside was almost as if he was looking at a painting. The concept of a reality beyond the glass never formed in his young mind. Now here he was, seven years later, and it still amazed him that the castle existed beyond the gardens, but he didn't know any better, and he realized, as he followed Zelda diligently, that he knew less than he ever thought he did.

"I'll assume that by now, someone is readying a room for you," she remarked as they walked, "So while we wait for that, I think I should introduce you to some men who may be able to help us with your new identity. They are all very kind gentlemen, Link, and I think that you will like them."

He offered now response, but still kept his attention focused on his following and ogling.

Eventually, after winding through an incomprehensible maze of stone halls and staircases, whose walls were decorated will all sorts of paraphernalia, ranging from hand woven tapestries to shields and weapons that not even Link had a name for, they came to a set of large solid oak doors, upon which were delicate carvings. Indeed, Link thought, it must have taken a great artisan to create the beautiful images on the doors. On the top left of the four panels, A Knight on his steed sat proudly, in full armor, holding the banner of Hyrule in one hand, and a great sword in the other. The top right panel was done in the image of a Knight in combat, also in full armor, but without his horse. He was sword to sword with an evil-looking man, who was unidentifiable for the most part. The bottom left panel had the image of a Squire in formal clothes, walking amidst a rack of lances and holding a short sword in one hand. The bottom right panel was a simple Page, not more than nine or ten years old, who held in one hand, a toy horse, and in the other, a toy Knight. There was such rich detail in the carvings that one could look at them all day and not see absolutely everything portrayed in them.

Zelda, however, was not as dumbstruck as her companion at the familiar sight of the doors. She didn't even notice the awe on his face as she quoted, still facing away from him, "There's an old saying that goes, 'If you give a man a place just for himself and no other, then it becomes his kingdom.' I never understood it, until I found out where the old men went at night." With that, she opened one of the doors, allowing more of the soft yellow light of candles to fill the slightly dimmer hall.

Four aging soldiers sat on various couches and chairs around a great stone hearth, roaring with laughter. Their gathering made the vast room with all its high ceilings and unused space, seem empty. Two long tables were on either side of the hearth, accompanied only by books taken from the massive shelves on the wall opposite the hearth, which lay opened and forgotten about on the dusty surfaces of the tables. However, when the door was fully opened, the small center of life in the great room stopped its laughter and turned to meet its visitors.

"Ah! Milady, what brings you to our part of the castle?" a broad man, the youngest of the group, appearing to be only in his fifties, asked of the Princess.

"I'm actually here on an important matter, as is an old friend," Zelda explained.

Link stepped forward slightly, still hanging in the door way, to make himself known.

"Well then," another old man asked, this one completely bald and slightly older than the first, "What business is it that brings her Highness into the Knight's Den without even taking off her cloak."

Only then did Zelda realize she was still wearing the cloak that had at first concealed her from Link's vision, though the hood had remained unused since she first drew it back. She then casually undid the fastenings of the heavy garment, and draped it over a well used wooden chair that happened to reside near the door. What she wore underneath was not the kind of dress Link was accustomed to seeing her in. In fact, it had not even a tint of pink on it. The light, silky fabric was indeed a dark forest green, one that was almost more black than green itself, and embroidered in gold. Link decided that he liked it, a lot. It flattered her already beautiful features very well, but it took all his effort to pull his gaze away and back to where it belonged, which was anyway where else.

"You gentlemen and I have spoken at length on the condition of this kingdom," Zelda began, addressing the old men, "And if memory serves me correctly, you are supportive of my right to the throne, correct?"

The men nodded uniformly, adding a few affirming grunts.

"Well then, I also remember the lot of you saying something about getting that 'Bloody Emperor' out of this kingdom as soon as possible, right?"

Instead of simple grunts, the men answered with cheers and calls to battle.

Zelda laughed ruefully. "Well, my dear old friend Link has helped me many times in the past. So many, that I don't think you'd believe me if I recounted all of them to you. He is a skilled warrior, as well as a skilled thinker, however, he is not the type of person that can simply wander this castle or hold counsel with me without reason, if you know what I mean. I know this may seem strange to you, but I have a feeling that Link could be essential to ridding our kingdom of its most recent problems."

"So how does this involve us?" the most elderly of the bunch called out from a slit in his long white beard.

"Patience, sir," Zelda commanded, "I am coming to a point here. You see, Link had just found me in the gardens, and he has just arrived back in Hyrule from a journey of many years. Terinae interrupted his homecoming and I had to tell him something, so I said that Link was the son of one of my late father's late Knights, and an aspiring Squire himself."

"Hold up, hold up!" the youngest one demanded. "You mean to say that you just made this peasant 'friend' of yours into a Squire with a simple word and, no less, the son of one of our departed finest? You do know, Milady, that there are reasons that we Knights are a dying breed in Hyrule. We are all old men, most of us widowers, who have had no sons to carry on our traditions. Not only is it illogical to give us one, but very complicated. For the Goddesses' sake, it doesn't even seem that the boy can even speak!"

Link, even in his state of shock had to prove the raging old Knight wrong. "I can speak, as well as learn."

"Then learn this, boy!" the vehement Knight shouted, "If you are to be any Squire in this castle, you will address me as 'Milord' every time you so much as open your mouth in my direction."

Link did not recoil, yet he made a note to watch out for the Knight's sour tongue.

"Wrasten," Zelda admonished, "I pray you, go easy on him. He has only just learned of Hyrule's fate, but he is willing to help us, and I am willing to do everything in my power to let him help, but I can't do that if you scream at him as if he were a servant."

"'Tis what he is, isn't it?"

It still baffled the young swordsman how people cared so much for what place they were in society, but he felt the sting of that comment as if it demeaned him to some animalistic level of life.

"Not anymore. I wish that you would willingly accept him and teach him as I will, but I can still expect your work without your will. However, it is not my wish to place any order upon the Old Knights of Hyrule. At least the rest of you are kind and gentle souls, as I've grown to know you. What do you have to say on this matter?" the Princess inquired.

"You know, Highness," the bald one spoke, "That I am for anything that is helpful to this, the greatest of Kingdoms."

"I have no objections," stated the bearded man, "And, in fact, I rather like the idea. It's about time we had a new Knight in Hyrule, even if he's only part of a plot to restore our royalty to its rightful place on the throne."

The youngest grunted a less enchanting go ahead, offering no words towards the matter.

The lone Knight who had kept silent for the whole encounter was then the focus of all eyes in the room. His salt and pepper hair and short beard were neatly trimmed, and one could see that he was older than he looked, and even wiser beyond those years. He deliberated silently, the glow of the hearth bouncing off his aging, but still striking face and green eyes. His eventual answer, however, only served to confuse Link even further. "Didn't Dorian's wife have a babe, not more than twenty years ago, that died of a fever just before the war took his parents that fall? The boy could be passed as Dorian's son...for he has the look of him, at least enough to fool that foreign thief."

A mutual nod of recognition as well as few stronger stares in Link's direction were what followed.

"Are you all in agreement then?" Zelda asked again, "Do I have the pledge of the Old Knights of Hyrule?"

"I believe I speak for the lot of us in saying that you do, Princess," the once silent one spoke again in affirmative.

Then Zelda grabbed her cloak, after shooting a quick smile in the direction of an overwhelmed Link. "On that note, gentlemen, I'll leave you to get better acquainted. I'll be back in due time."

She stepped back towards the door, whispering at Link as she left, "Don't worry. It may not seem like it, but they are all good men and they will do anything to get the Emperor out of Hyrule. I'll thank you in advance for your help..."

And then he was alone, well, with the Old Knights.

"Nice of her to introduce us all, don't you think?" the young, aggressive Knight added sarcastically.

"Certainly, but she seemed to have a busy air about her. I'm sure it just slipped her Highness' mind," the elderly one reassured him.

"Well, it might as well be me who does the introductions then. Boy, for starters, you can call me Sir Wrasten, that is, when you don't address me as Milord. They tell me I'm the mother hen around here, even though I have expressed one too many times how little I like the term. The old man of old men here to my right is Sir Cortain. We know him as the wise old coot, even if he is generally a little senile. The bald man you see reflecting the fire light is Sir Banon. Don't let the lack of hair fool you, because now that he doesn't have to deal with it in his face anymore, he had become an even greater swordsman. And last but not least the quiet, pretty boy of the group we call Sir Damen. Don't let his ample talk fool you, because he's actually Hyrule's greatest strategist. He probably saves his breath for the next set of logic he plans to throw at us. What about yourself, lad?"

"My name is Link," the more than slightly stunned young man began.

"Oh come now!" Wrasten scolded, but this time there was a more gentle and laughable edge to his sharp tongue. "We know that much already. What do you do when the Princess isn't making up a life for you?"

"I'm an adventurer of sorts. Ever since I was ten years old I've wandered from Hyrule, looking to help out wherever help was needed. Through that, I've come to know all sorts of places, people, and weapons, though I am fond of the sword. The whole story is too long to be an introduction," Link told them.

"Then we shall have to hear it over the course of many evenings later to come," Banon announced, sounding genuinely interested.

"Come closer, boy," Wrasten invited, now seeming to have warmed up considerably since Zelda had gone, "We aren't here to rob you or whatnot."  
  


Link obeyed, and was thankful for the instinct he had to do so. He liked this version of the youngest "Old Knight" better than the snapping turtle of a man he'd first encountered, and he didn't want to set him off again.

"You and the Princess must've both been in a hurry," Banon remarked, upon seeing Link still in all his gear, "Since you couldn't even leave your sword and shield at the door."

"Usually, they never leave me until I sleep," Link commented. "I am so used to the weight now that I barely even notice them."

"Well let's have a look see here," the bald swordsman prompted eagerly. Link could already tell where his interests were.

It felt strange to take off the sword's sheath and its shoulder strap, as well as the shield that was hooked onto it, but Link knew enough to know better than to simply draw his sword when showing it off. Feeling naked, he approached a small table that was among the random pieces of lesser furniture scattered about the large room, and laid the equipment down. Banon followed him eagerly for those few steps, while the others looked on from where they were.

Link gladly withdrew his fine broadsword and placed its hilt towards Banon, wondering what the expert would have to say about it. Banon took it up, and seemed almost thrown off by the lightness of it, not that it was light, but rather, it did look much heavier than it was. He did several things in examining the blade, many that Link thought had no real purpose, while grunting all the while.

"'Tis a grand sword for a young common man such as yourself," he finally remarked, still admiring the inlaid gold in the clean, sharp steel.

"Thank you, Sir," Link replied. "I was owed a favor by one of the finest weapon's crafters I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, and this was what came of it."

Damen then approached, making almost no noise as he did. He was not interested in the sword and its details that Banon was now blabbering on about. Link watched the clean-cut Knight out of the corner of his eye as he placed his hand on the well-worn Hylian shield that Link had continually kept and repaired throughout his travels. He looked at Link, while the younger man looked right back at him, and for an instant, smiled, then pretended to be interested in Banon's rantings on the good craftsmanship of the blade, and how Link should go about mending the nicks he had in the left side of it so as to make it look even more like new.

Link wasn't really paying attention, though. Something about Damen caught his thoughts. It seemed that the Old Knight knew far more than he cared to say, at least for the moment. His whole stature and appearance exuded knowing, and it reminded Link of the Sages he'd awakened, back in the days of forgotten time. There was a comfort in his knowing, Link could see that, and it exuded from him also. The hero knew that Damen would not lead him astray. It was an odd form of instant trust, but Link had learned long ago that certain feelings he had were meant to be listened to.

Eventually, the sword made it back to its sheath and the excitement Banon had shown over it died down, making the bald Knight seem like he'd been let down, simply because he knew better than to talk on and on about weapons all evening and bore his companions to death with it. They asked Link a few more generic questions, many of which he couldn't answer. High born types, Link found out, had an affinity towards family ties, even if it was in a common man such as himself. When he told them of his good fortune at being raised by the Kokiri, the men seemed more shocked to learn that Link didn't know who his parents were, rather than the fact that he'd been raised by the "Savage Fairy Children" as his old friends were seldom referred to.

As that conversation died down, not unlike the embers of the dying fire in the Knight's great hearth, Damen spoke again, commanding all to listen with his very lack of silence. "Lords," he addressed the whole of them, "I believe that we should get down to more serious matters, even if a little storytelling and conversation is all well and good. We have to invent a history for this boy, and one that will give him enough standing to work with us and give us counsel in this, our time of greatest need."

The Old Knights agreed with grunts and nods, as that was what seemed customary.

"Then we are to say that he is the son of our lost Knight Sir Dorian, and was sent as a young child to live with his mother's family off in another kingdom..."

"Hassentern!" Cortain, the oldest and supposedly wisest suggested.

"That will do. It is believable enough. So young Link here was sent to live with family in Hassentern and train as a Knight there, in a quiet, isolated country manor."

Wrasten chuckled. "It would give excuse for his poor manners."

"Exactly my point," Damen stated. "By that, he learned the blade and the horse, as from what I can tell of him already, he already knows well, but little else. Though he wishes to achieve Knighthood and follow in the steps of his long dead father, he is greatly unprepared for life in Hyrule Castle. Therefore, the Princess and the Old Knights must step in, in order to put the young man on the correct path towards his eventual Knighthood, which he is promised once this 'little political issue' has been solved. It gives us the perfect excuse to have him in tow whenever we wish, and to teach him what he needs to know in order to fit the part of his altered birth. An uncultured, wild young noble out to avenge his parents...there is no better way!"

Damen seemed pleased with himself, and sported a grin not unlike that of a child who knows he's gotten away with something.

"But Damen," Banon butted in, looking perplexed. "The only thing is, if you make the boy out to be Dorian's son...then he's your--"

"Squire!" Damen cut him off, "As he will be to all of us." He then turned to Link and said, "It may seem like a strange and even loathsome idea to you, my young friend, but I will tell you this: From now on, your days are going to be very full and very planned. Cherish and free time you find for yourself, because incidences of such will be few and far between. Are you sure you agree with all this?"

Link pondered on it for a moment, still awestruck by the fast pace at which his world was tumbling and altering around him. "It is for Hyrule, so yes, I agree," he finally blurted out, knowing that was indeed his answer, only cut down a little. "Besides, it's too late now for me to back out, isn't it?"

"I have great faith in you, Link, excuse me, Master Link. It is what most will call you now, either that or Your Honor. Get used to it, because your first lesson is to only call someone you really know and trust by their name alone."

It was then that the doors bust open again, revealing Zelda along with a slightly younger girl, who Link could only guess was some kind of servant.

"I hope you gentlemen have had a nice chat," Zelda began, "But I'm afraid that its time for me and Calandra to show Master Link to his room in the north wing. So say your good-byes for the night, the hour is drawing late as is."

And with that the Old Knights did whether by wave, grunt, or even a few words, they bid him off, and Link grabbed his equipment, and found that he saw a good side to his confusing dilemma in the castle in the old men. They were all, in their own way, truly friendly and good people and they meant well for him. As much as he trusted Zelda, Link found himself longing for the glow of the great hearth as soon as he'd left it, even though it was a relatively pleasant spring night.

As soon as he was clear of her way, the servant girl shut the door, closing him off from his new friends and teachers.

"Terinae has retired for the night," Zelda reported, "But he made a point of making sure that I told you he looked forward to speaking with you at dinner tomorrow. For that reason alone, you must meet with me in the morning tomorrow, as early as possible. I have a meeting with a few financial advisors just before noon, but until then, you have much to learn, and I have much to teach you."

Link nodded and followed along as they started on another winding course through the maze of stone the Hylians called a castle.

"So how did everything go over with the Old Knights?" she inquired over her shoulder.

"Good, I guess," he told her. "They decided to tell people I was the son of some Knight named Dorian that was killed a long time ago in some war and that I had been raised in some wild country...uh...the name started with an H or something..."

"Hassentern?"

"Yes, that's the one," Link affirmed as they hit a narrow flight of stairs.

"Ah, so they plan to pass you off as some beast boy raised far away from the comforts of Hyrule," she giggled. "That, I guess, will do well enough. It works out reasonably for us then, so all in all, it is a good idea."

After a few more staircases, they then reached an intersection of four long, door-lined corridors.

"This is where most of the noble blood of the castle sleeps," Zelda indicated. "To the south, the direction that points to the heart of Hyrule, is where the royal family is intended to stay. Right now, it's just myself and the Emperor, who demands only the finest we have to offer here. To the west, facing towards a great deal of the rest of the known world, is the ambassador's wing. That is where we board our foreign guests. To the east, at the right hand of the royal family, are the highest born nobles. And lastly, to the north, guarding the royal family from the hostile northern lands, are the high ranking generals and Knights of Hyrule. Everyone is separated like that, which is almost silly if you ask me."

Link could not believe how much information and tradition he'd already encountered in the few hours he'd spent inside the castle. Silly it was, but astonishing as well.

"They gave you a nice room in the north wing," Zelda told him. "After all, it's nearly as empty as my wing these days. Calandra will show you which one it is and bring you anything that you require. I knew I could count on you, Link." With that she smiled. "I was hoping you'd come back. I knew that you would. You've helped me and this kingdom before, and I know you can do it again. Thank you, for everything...again."

She didn't even leave a chance for him to respond, and began to walk briskly away to other important matters. "Remember!" Zelda shouted. "First thing in the morning! I will send someone for you!"

Link simply nodded and waved in goodbye. Words, it seemed, would now be forever beyond him.

"This way," the younger girl beckoned, leading him down the cool, dim north wing. "Yours is the third door on the left, they said." When they reached it, she opened the door for him, which was a practice that Link was severely unaccustomed to, and lit the wall scones with the tiny candle she'd been carrying.

The room was made of stone, same as the rest of the castle, and the largest that Link had ever called home. Two slits of windows offered a view of the western gardens, as well as the clear night sky. Between them, on the wall opposite the door, a rather perplexing tapestry was hung. It was done in such a strange style, that Link couldn't tell what it was supposed to be depicting. He'd seen such things in the nice inns and houses he'd crept into, and usually, they told a story, but this one was fashioned strangely. The south wall was home to a large four post bed, covered in a deep red quilt and newly washed sheets. Two wall scones on either side of it had little matching tables underneath them, one of which held a basin and a pitcher. There was a large cedar chest at the foot of the bed as well. On the south wall, there was a wooden wardrobe and bookcase, both of which were small and empty. A barely sizable table and two chairs, both made of a strangely dark wood, were off in the corner near the door. All and all, very basic for a castle room, but more than Link had ever known in his short lifetime.

"Your Honor?" the girl asked, knocking Link out of his grateful daze, "Do you need anything else?"

"I-I think I'm good for the night. Thanks," he replied, now only wanting to get away from the constant change.

"Good night then, Master Link." With that, the girl disappeared quickly, even before Link could turn around watch her leave.

A bed had never looked so inviting to him as it did now. He had not fought hard on that day, or even ridden very hard or long, but he was exhausted. Link began to take off all of his various belts and straps, unloading pound after pound of various weapons and items he always carried with him. He knew the rest of his treasures were safe with Epona, who had probably bedded down in the tall grass of Hyrule field by now. It was then that he noticed that the Ocarina was still in its pouch, and that he had put it away and hadn't given it to Zelda. There was no need for that now. It appeared that Hyrule still needed his help, and to Link, this meant that the Ocarina was still in his charge. He would ask the Princess if this was what he should think and do when she had less troubling her, when she had time to at least talk to him, that was.

Link was once again startled out of his thoughts when a knock came upon the wood of his open door. He turned around to find Damen standing in the doorway, his black cloak almost completely covering the dull grey clothing he wore.

"I couldn't help but see that your light was still on," the Old Knight began, the grin Link had seen before once again on his face.

"I was just about to go to sleep," Link reported.

"Well, can I ask you to wait a little while longer? I still have some matters to discuss with you, those as such that they can't be spoken in front of my fellow Knights," he stated, leaning on the doorway.

Link nodded.

Damen straightened himself up, looking indeed like a much younger man. "The Knight I mentioned, that you are now the 'son' of...I knew him quite well, you could say. You see, Dorian was my youngest brother, and he and I were close, even though nearly twenty-two years separated us in age. My parents had many sons, of which I was the eldest, and he the youngest, and we were all Knights, and it is strange that I am the last remaining. Most of my brothers died along with Dorian in the war against the invading Gerudos that thought they could take over Hyrule many years ago. Though we did win that battle, it cost us a great deal of casualties, and among them was Dorian."

Only then did Link comprehend the fact that this made Damen his "uncle".

"My little brother's wife and sickly infant son were supposedly killed in a raid on the town they were staying in shortly after. I know no other details of it, simply because those who were left alive in that part of the war were the ones who fled early, and also because my brothers and I had a great falling out only months before that, and we still weren't speaking to one another. That argument is one of the few I regret making in my life, but that is a story for another day."

Damen paused, perhaps out of reverence, or only to catch his breath, but Link didn't dare to make a sound, for fear of ruining the story.

"When I saw you walk into the Den, I thought I'd seen a ghost. Believe it or not, boy, you are the very image of Dorian at your age, only dressed in strange clothes and in need of a haircut. There are a few other things that are different about you, but overall, you look astoundingly like my brother. I don't know where you came from, or who it was that bore you to this land, but it makes me wonder. Never mind that, though, I have said too much. If people talk of your uncle, know that they are speaking of me. I will tell you all you need to know about the family I've put you in, so it is my wish that after you see the Princess tomorrow morning, that you see me in my chambers. I am the second door from the end, on the right. Can you remember that?"

Link nodded again, now fearing that every moment would have him at a loss for words.

"Then I shall see you tomorrow. Good night, Master Link."

"Uh...same to you, Sir Damen."

Damen laughed and turned his shoulder to the stunned young man. "Remember, Link, you can call me uncle if you wish." Then he left, the light of his own candle receding away down the darker hallway.

It was all Link could do to fall asleep that night, what with the new, and strangely uncomfortable for all its softness bed, and the thoughts that raged on in his mind, trying to ponder what exactly had happened that evening, and what would happen the sun rose again.

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	4. Fourth

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda Fan Fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscibes.org

Link, in all his life abroad, had been used to some rude awakenings, but those usually came from various monsters that shoved him out of the mud he slept in while attempting to kill him, or at least take his leg off for a bite to eat, however, the thought of a little girl being able to get into his room and not alert him until she shook the living daylights out of him, was indeed disturbing.

"Time to get up, Master Link!" the little thing shouted as she shook.

Link bolted upright in bed, and she managed to withdraw quickly enough not to be thrown by the force of the startled young man. He then shook his head, clearing it, and rubbed his eyes, which were confronted with a room that was all too bright.

"Princess Zelda said there was a change of plans and that I should give you this note," the girl announced, pulling a small envelope out of her pocket.

Still sandy-eyed with sleep, Link took the note and thanked the girl. He opened the envelope and read it silently, suddenly questioning why Zelda even had to write a note. She could've just told the girl that had shaken him awake.

_Dear Link, _

_I'm truly sorry, but I have to attend to a few other things early this morning and we can only meet for a little more than an hour today, but it will have to suffice. In the meantime, I've arranged for some things that will make you look more presentable, shall we say. I really do regret having to do this, but as you can obviously see, I never have little to do around here, and there are matters of importance that I have to see to, even if I'm not technically ruling the country. I'll have someone fetch you around mid-morning. _

_Sincerely, _

_Princess Zelda_

"I suppose you're still here to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing?" Link asked of the girl as he saw her still standing as she was when he had taken the letter from her.

"Yup. You can call me Vesta, Your Honor," said the girl, who couldn't have been much older than twelve. "And my boss said I was to bring you a change of clothes from the tailor and have a bath ready for you to use. Once you're done, I have to take you to the tailor's quarters to be measured for some new good clothes."

Link suddenly felt ashamed of his own appearance, seeing as he had never thought to own more than a few changes of clothes, and he had never been terribly worried about bathing regularly before. It just wasn't necessary. Oh well, it was just another change. He had to learn to accept all of them, somehow. Only then did he notice the steam rising from the great copper tub filled with water and the folded pieces of cloth that were arranged neatly next to it. How could that little thing drag that big tub up and fill it without waking him. It simply astounded Link, and he almost wanted to ask the little girl to teach him how to sneak around so well.

"Thank you," he replied simply.

"You're welcome, Master Link. I'll leave you to your privacy...but hey! I'm going to go get breakfast while I wait, you want me to bring you something?" she inquired after a thought.

Only then did it occur to Link that he hadn't eaten since breakfast of the previous day. "Yes, I'd like that." It was a strange idea, though, people bringing him food. His meals usually consisted of whatever game he could trap along with some hard travel biscuits and water from the nearest place it was deemed to be drinkable. Good food was the kind he bought at inns, or was given to him by his many friends along the way.

"Okay, got any requests?"

Link wasn't exactly sure what she meant for a moment, but the he realized that in a place like the castle, one could have pretty much anything one wanted for breakfast. Again, this was strange to him and made him uneasy. He could only think to respond with, "Whatever you're having is fine with me." He wasn't too picky in the first place.

"If you say so, Master Link." With that, she took off into the maze of stone walls and staircases, shutting the plank door behind her.

"I suppose I could use a bath..." Link thought out loud, still eyeing the tub suspiciously.

Once he had washed the dirt of travel and battle off of himself, Link dried off and changed into the clothes Vesta had brought for him, consisting of a black tunic, which was made of a fine, light material, and white trousers. His boots, he decided, must've been acceptable enough. He was reluctant to change, having gotten used to his usual garb, and especially his hat. He just looked...strange...without it, at least he thought. He left it reluctantly sitting on the now occupied shelves, with the rest of his old green outfit.

A knock came at the door then.

"Uh...come in."

Vesta entered, carrying a simple tray with an assortment of food on it. She put it down on the little table in the corner and then scurried over to the shelves where Link still stood.

"The boss said I'm supposed to take your old clothes to the laundry and to tell you not to worry about it because you'll get them back," she told him and began to fold the green cloth.

"Who is this boss of yours anyway?" Link asked, watching her out of the corner of his eye as he eagerly approached the food that was laid out for him.

"The head maid. She's really old, and she can be nasty sometimes, but she really is nice."

Link just hummed a reply as he pulled out a chair and sat down, observing the contents of the simple meal. The tray was occupied by a small bowl of hot oatmeal, a plate with two fried eggs and four thick pieces of bacon, and another plate that held two slices of bread, as well as a small pot of honey. Link couldn't ask for more, especially since he wasn't paying for it, and he dug in immediately. Needless to say, since his hunger seemed to grow with every bite, breakfast was quickly defeated.

"Hungry, weren't we?" Vesta asked, startling Link once again as she appeared beside him, his clothes in her arms.

"Yes...uh...Thank you for bringing this up for me."

"What's with all the thank you's? It's my job! Guess the word going around is true..." she muttered.

"Word going around?"

Vesta shrugged. "I supposed there's no harm in letting you know. It's just kitchen talk, so don't get all offended or anything. They say you come from Hassentern, even though you're obviously a Hylian, and you are some so-and-so's son, but when your family kicked the bucket, you were shipped off to some forest manor where they raised you by giving you a pony and telling you to go rid their woodlands of monsters, so you don't know anything about being what you were born to be. They say you're pretty slow too, that you don't know how to do anything but ride and fight."

"It's mostly true..." Link decided to go with it, since he had no other choice. Apparently, word spreads fast, even in such a large and intimidating place as the castle. He meant to take note of that.

"You're not dumb, though, I can see it. You just don't know better, kinda like a little kid...Uh, but I'm sorry, Your Honor! I've said too much!" she apologized fervently, evening bowing a little.

For Link, it was just awkward. "Please, uh, Vesta," he addressed her, "It doesn't matter to me. I don't care what people say about me. I...uh...can out fight any of them, so it doesn't matter what they say."

She looked up at him again, confused. "You really are strange, but I like you, Master Link. It's good to work for someone that's not so stuck up and stuffy like all the other nobles around here."

"Work for?"

"Yes! Can't you tell? I've been assigned to you! Oh wait! I bet you've never had your own servant before, have you?" she demanded excitedly.

"No, but--"

Vesta cut Link off. "Well them I'm glad to be the first! Always at your service, Master Link," she then did a little curtsey, her arms still full, "But I'm afraid we have to go to the tailor's rooms now. You have an appointment to keep, and I have to get your old clothes to the laundry once I drop you off."

And before he even knew it, Link was whipping around through the vastly confusing stone corridors of the castle once again, still trying to get an idea of even the general layout of the enormous and complex structure. It then dawned on him that it would be a while before he could even comprehend the twisting halls and narrow staircases, no less where they were supposed to lead.

After what Link thought was going up two floors and a little east, then north, then going down another floor, they reached the tailor's quarters.

Vesta pointed this out to him and left saying she'd return again and wishing him good luck. Link wasn't too sure why she said the last part about good luck, but he did find out.

When he entered that room, all decency and dignity was left behind, and the thin, mustached tailor threw him up onto a platform, measuring and mumbling all the while, and before Link knew it, he had lost his tunic and boots, and was very grateful for the fact that he didn't have to do the same with the trousers.

"My aren't we broad-chested for our age?" the tailor finally spoke up. "You're going to be hell to fit, boy, but not impossible. Big shoulders too, probably swinging a sword around a little too much, eh?"

Link could only manage to laugh nervously. He'd been fitted for clothes before, simply because in the past five years, he outgrew them by the month, but never with such mindless, and mannerless efficiency.

"All right then," the tailor said, putting away his measuring tape and pulling a small pad of paper out of his front pocket. "Take that red tunic over on that chair there, it should fit you better. Your boots and belt are over by the door," he reported with a few gestures of the quill he then pulled out of his other shirt pocket.

"Uh...Thank you..." Link blurted out, anxiously picking up the said items of clothing. He re-dressed himself quickly, noting the tailor's lack of a reply, as well as a large mirror that sat over in a corner. The red tunic actually did fit him well, but his shaggy blonde hair looked...just silly...without a hat.

"Um, Master tailor?" Link asked on a thought, "Would it be possible for you to make me a hat as well? One that's--"

"Like your old one, right?" the tailor questioned, his back still turned to Link as he wrote.

"Yes, but how did--"

"Never you mind that, Master Link. You'll have what you ask for, but I will ask that you leave shortly, since my time is very valuable and very scheduled," he told the young man.

"Oh, sorry. Thanks again..." With that, Link chose to slip quietly out, only receiving a grunt from the busy tailor.

Link closed the large plank door behind him slowly and quietly. Something about the tailor unnerved him, and he didn't want to upset the lithe man. He found Vesta waiting for him, her arms no longer loaded down, their burden having been dropped off.

"Good!" she exclaimed, looking him over, "You look better in red!"

"Uh..." Link wasn't one that was used to having his appearance so scrutinized. Sure, he'd had more than his fair share of female...followers...but they had been the type to watch from a distance, not tell him about every little nuance about his looks. He didn't bother with his appearance much at all. He cut his hair when it started to fall in his eyes too much, and he knew when he'd outgrown his clothes then set about correcting that. His only real pet peeve was his hat, or the current lack there of.

"Well, come on! I met up with the Princess' lady, Calandra, on my way to the laundry. She said she was looking for you for her Highness. I sent her back and told her you'd be there, so we better hurry," Vesta reported.

"Right," Link nodded and prepared to dive into the twisting corridors of the castle once again.

As they rushed about, they now encountered more people. Servants bustling about, all looking busy and imposed upon, and most loaded down with various armfuls of things. There were a few people who were in no hurry, and had no burden. They were also dressed a lot nicer, and laughed frivolously as they strolled about together. It didn't take much genius for Link to figure out that these must've been the nobles of the realm, the people who had money, titles, and not much else to their overly glorified name. Just as he thought on his own, pretty low opinion of them, another idea came to mind with a few more moments of observation.

"Vesta?" he queried.

"Yes?" she responded over her shoulder, leading him down another staircase.

"I know that I don't know a lot about what goes on in a place like this, but don't men usually have, well, other men for servants, and women get, uh, other women?" Link couldn't think of where or when he'd come across the fact, but it stuck out in his mind, and watching those who attended the strolling nobles only provided further proof.

"Well, yeah, that's usually the case," Vesta replied, "But up here in the castle, we're really short on men, just in general. Normally, we'd have a few that could drop their duties and attend to any male guests we might have, but they've all been working for his Imperial Highness since he came with all his armies. He took a lot of our people out of their normal duties, so everyone's got to do more now than we ever have. I'm not too fond of it personally, but that's the way it's got to be..."

"But why would he need so many servants?" Link couldn't understand why a person should even need one, especially if they could get around the castle by themselves.

"Beats me, but those poor people are up there in his quarters day and night, and when they're not, they're sleeping like babies. He must do something to drive them to exhaustion like that..."

Warnings fired in Links mind, and his growing suspicion of Terinae's intent grew to a worrisome issue.

Once again, they were up in the crossing of corridors that held the nobility's rooms. Vesta walked with Link until they reached the very first stone of the royal wing, then she stopped suddenly.

"What's the matter?" he asked, even though she looked perfectly normal and was even slightly smiling.

"Only servants with orders to go here can enter the royal wing. Just an old rule. Zelda's door if the third on the right. Just knock and her lady should let you in."

Link was confused. There were so many rules, and he knew that he was probably coming to the Princess to learn even more. "That's a very dumb rule, if you ask me," he told her.

Vesta shrugged. "It's a rule," she repeated simply.

Link just tried to shake the feelings off as he turned and started down the hall towards Zelda's rooms.

He reached the door, made of a fine cherry wood and engraved with intricate designs, many incorporating the Triforce in one way or another, and knocked, just loud enough to be heard. The same girl that had accompanied Zelda the night before answered and showed him into the richly decorated apartments.

"Her Highness will be with you shortly, Master Link," Calandra said and slipped away into another room. She seemed like a quiet girl and even when she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.

Link simply stood where he had been standing since he'd stepped in and tried his best to wait patiently. After a while, he went to take his hat off and fidget with it, but only to realize that he wasn't wearing a hat. Something about that just really did not sit right with him. Maybe it was because all the Kokiri boys wore hats and he'd always followed suit, though was never told to do so. It just...made him uncomfortable...and it made him look stupid.

A door hinge creaked and marked Zelda's entrance, shaking Link from his musings. It was almost a relief to see her wearing a pale purple dress. For some reason, the sight of her in dark colors was another thing that set Link ill at ease. It just seemed, wrong. It was silly, though, because he barely knew her, and it was just his idea of her...

"Good morning, Link," she said, and then smiled. "You look different without the green clothes."

He tried to keep the disappointment from showing on his face. He knew he looked stupid.

"Actually, I think it's a good change for you," Zelda confirmed otherwise. "You're starting to look the part, at least."

"Uh...Good morning to you as well, Princess," he managed to say in remembrance and even bowed his head.

"Actually, if you're going to be a Squire, you have to address me like the other Knights do, and say Milady when you speak to me, but that's why I summoned you here..."

"I thought so."

Zelda smiled again. "But for now, don't worry about it. There's no one here but Calandra and myself, and you're just learning."

Link nodded, still afraid to say much.

"So where to begin..." she asked no one in particular, her eyes firmly set on the nervous swordsman. Then she turned an looked at the small cherry table, with it's two chairs, that sat up against the wall in-between two very tall windows that showed a magnificent view of a garden and the morning sun. "Why don't we sit down?"

She started over slowly, allowing Link to catch up to her, and watching him intently. She hovered over one chair, waiting, then, satisfied that Link wasn't daring to move a muscle, Zelda sat down, and he then quickly followed suit.

She grinned again. "So you already know to sit down after royalty, or in tonight's case, the Emperor."

"Or the master of the house, or the innkeeper, or a lady..." he explained.

"I guess a formal dinner isn't too different from a feast on a ranch, is it? Well, that makes it easier then. I'll just have to see what else you know then..."

So began the interrogation. Whatever question Link couldn't answer, she answered for him, in a thorough explanation, and even when he could answer, she pertained it exactly to what was going to happen that evening. All Link had to was remember it, but that in itself was a feat for the hero. A lot of it was really trivial and pointless. It didn't make sense to him why he had to eat at the same pace as the Emperor, and set a dish aside when the Emperor did. Why couldn't he just eat what he liked, how he liked? Of course, he never asked that, because all of Zelda's grilling on his knowledge of manners only served to make him more nervous and quiet, but it just didn't make proper sense, like most of the rules he'd heard of already.

Eventually, it drew close to noon , and Zelda finally felt that she had adequately prepared her mystified pupil enough so that he wouldn't completely embarrass himself at dinner. She sat back in her chair, letting the sunlight from the picture windows dance on her face. "This must be strange for you," she mused, "All these new rules and ideas, not to mention this place itself."

"It is, but I've been to a lot of strange places, most of them a lot worse than this big stone castle where people keep trying to do everything for me," he informed her.

She laughed a little, closing her eyes. "I just can't imagine what it would be like, anywhere outside of this castle," she explained. "I almost wish you could show me all those strange places. A little change would be nice."

"I can't imagine what it would be like for you, Princess, just staying inside here all day. Even when I lived in the forest, I never stayed in the same place. I was always out exploring. You never do that, just go out and look around, get to know new things and places?" he inquired, looking intently at her, struck by the words she was saying and also by her sunlit face.

"I can't, Link. That's not the sort of thing that a Princess does. But...maybe one day, when all of this nonsense is over, you could show me around Hyrule. I'm sure you know it better than I do, and I'm supposed to be its leader..."

"I'd like that," Link said sincerely, smiling.

Zelda opened her eyes and leaned forward, joining in with his smile, only to break it as she came to a realization. "Oh the time!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Link, it was nice talking to you, but I'm afraid I'll be late for my meeting if you don't leave now. You understand, right?"

Link nodded, looking a little dejected, but not enough for her to notice. "I'll see you at dinner, then, Milady?" he asked as he rose and walked to the door.

"Yes, at dinner, Master Link," she replied, giving him one more smile to leave with.

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	5. Fifth

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

At this point, I declare my official insanity. I should be finishing Cross, and restarting work on Price of Life. I'm an Eva writer...that's what I should be doing. At this time of night, I should be sleeping too, but no, I'm sitting up into the wee hours of the morning, on my old piece of shit computer from 1994, writing a Zelda fic in Word 6.0 format because I'm in-fucking-sane. Oh well...it happens.

PS: I take liberties. Why? Because it's Zelda, and I can do that. There's a reason this is so much easier to write than Eva.

Link wasn't even on his second step out of the royal wing when he heard Damen's voice calling after him while the Old Knight strode down the north wing towards him. Vesta was nowhere in sight, obviously gone off to other chores or more important things, probably since Link was now to be invested into his "uncle's" care. He met Damen at the intersection of corridors that was pretty much the only place in the castle Link could really claim to be familiar with.

"Ah! Look at you!" Damen exclaimed, seemingly pleased as he too studied Link like all the other people who had seen him the day before. "In that color red, you truly do look the part, my boy! Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. I felt exhausted last night, even though I hadn't really done anything draining," Link told him.

"Oh come now!" Damen seemed very jovial and pleasant, unlike the strange, quietly demanding front that Link had met the day before. He began to wonder if all the Old Knights were two-faced like that. "I'm sure that gaining a new identity is draining enough, and other such things should count as so. It doesn't have to take a day of swinging a sword or shooting a long bow to tire one out, you know. The mind often tires faster than the body, simply because we take it for granted, but enough of that. We have business to attend to, and it's not very wise to speak of your transformation, shall we say, out in the open like this," he told Link, gesturing to the empty corridors.

Link decided just to take his word for it, but asked on another point he'd made. "What business?"

"Why, getting you into the life of a Squire at the castle! Her Highness requests that your mornings be kept free for her planning, but after that, you come to the Old Knights to learn our ways. We already have it planned out for you too. Cortain will teach you the histories of this land, all the boring old facts every good man should know. Wrasten will work on your chivalry and teach you all the proprieties of this place. Banon will further your weapons skills. However, I take the greatest pleasure in my task..." Damn trailed off, looking nostalgic.

"Which is?"

"Teaching you about the family you've been given, and making sure that you are a proper member of the House of Red Lions," he said with a grin, like it was supposed to make sense to Link.

"House of Red Lions?"

"Why yes, boy," Damen laughed. "Each noble family in Hyrule is called a house. Their function is determined by color and they each have an animal that represents them as a symbol. Red is the color of the Knights, and our house is the House of Red Lions. You see?"

A memory popped into Link's head from the future everyone forgot. Some shopkeeper was telling him about the Hylian shield, and why there was a red eagle under that Triforce symbol. The man said something about wondering why he kept making them with the red bird, and how it would be easier on him, just to make them without. "Then the Royal Family is the House of Red Eagles?" Link concluded from the fuzzy memory.

"Yes!" Damen sounded overly thrilled to watch Link come to the realization. "The house of the King gets its symbol on the shields of Hylian soldiers. Your shield has the Red Eagle on it, doesn't it?"

Link nodded.

"Ah! I see where you know that from then. Well, that's all very well then! If you can draw those kind of conclusions, you can learn quickly, which is exactly what we need you to do. The sooner you know what you need to know, the sooner you can help us."

Link looked at Damen, still a little perplexed to see the man in such high spirits, and so talkative. Damen looked right back at him, his piercing green eyes searching Link's own blue eyes for the reason behind their staring contest.

"What's troubling you, boy?" he finally asked looking away from Link's gaze, at a loss for a reason.

"I'm just wondering why you are so different from the way you were last night." The young swordsman thought it better to just tell the truth.

Damen then looked back at him, this time, with a more serious face. "You just remind me of old times, better times," Damen said, then sighed. "I supposed we should get going, though. Before that, go get your gear from your room. Banon wants to see how well you wield that fancy blade of yours."

Link couldn't help but be slightly weirded out by Damen. He could only guess that he would eventually know the whole story behind the family they'd made him a part of, and why Damen was reminded of, well, whatever he was reminded of, at the sight of him. He went to his room and grabbed his sword from where it lay in its sheath on the top of the chest, but on a second thought, Link grabbed all of his weapons and gear, thinking he might need them. Everything was safely stored in his belt, some things with enchantments that made them tiny and easy to store in various pouches, others in normal fashion, which were kept on a strap behind his shield. His bow and quiver of arrows were among those. Link even remembered his gauntlets. He longed for their snug fit on his arms, but he only knew this when he caught sight of them, lying on the floor by his bed. They would also serve to cover up an annoying mark on his hand...one that tended to attract unwanted notice if kept uncovered. He put them on gladly, needless to say.

Once again, he was in tow of another and whirling through the twisting halls, but this time, Link tried to get a mental map going. He had to learn the layout of the great stone structure, if he ever wanted to be left on his own again.

This time, he did not arrive in a stuffy room, but rather, a large open courtyard, which was in no way a garden, simply because the grass was sparse, and only a thin birch tree dared to stake a claim to one of the corner's of the great square opening. Amidst a few nearly empty wooden racks stood Banon and Wrasten, arguing minutely over something.

As soon as Damen shut the door that lead out to the courtyard, though, they both turned to face the two intruders.

"Ah!" Banon shouted as he began to stroll leisurely over the open ground towards them, "Good to see you've made it!"

Wrasten walked up to them a little more speedily and did as all the others had done. He looked Link over, now that he was illuminated by daylight and had changed. "You will do," the other two-faced Knight concluded with a bit of a grin.

"My, my," Banon then commented, having arrived to greet them. "He does clean up well enough, doesn't he? Fit for your house, Damen?"

"Incredibly so," the still beaming Old Knight responded. Then he turned to Link and gestured to the two men standing before him. "Now I can formally introduce you to Sir Banon of the House of Red Bears and Sir Wrasten of the House of," Damen cracked a smile, "Red Badgers."

Wrasten did not seem amused at Damen's...amusement.

Banon just laughed outright and said, "Suits him, doesn't it, lad?"

"With that said and done," Damen continued. "I'd like to introduce you gentlemen to Link of the House of Red Lions."

"May you never turn green or blue, and always preserve your honor!" Banon and Wrasten cried in unison.

Link only responded by looking confused.

Wrasten scoffed at him, then Damen. "I don't think he bothered to tell you much else, did he? Blue is the color of Dukes, green is for Counts and Barons. They are not Knights, and by the old code of this land, we consider that to be shameful, since all noblemen of Hyrule are supposed to be Knights, as it used to be, but the rest of that lesson can wait. You are Banon's for today. We are only here to watch, since old men are considered to have nothing better to do."

Banon then grinned so that Link suddenly felt his sword arm itch. "It's my turn then, lad," he said, and beckoned Link to follow him over to the center of the spacious courtyard. The hero did, feeling strangely eager at the idea of a fight. Normally, he dreaded going up against most anything. Whether it was a Stalfos, or a ReDead, Link hated to fight them. They were just another chore, something to be done that he really didn't feel like doing. However, even if he had only been in the castle one night, something about this place put him on a strange new edge. It made him want to go out and fight whatever came to challenge him in Hyrule Field, or Lake Hylia, or Death Mountain...it didn't matter.

"Forget about all the other junk you've got," Banon told him as he took a fine red-hilted broadsword from the rack, along with a Hylian shield that was lying unceremoniously on the ground. "All I want is to see how you are with the sword and shield."

Link gladly dropped all the extraneous weapons and items, along with their containers and straps. He grabbed his sheathed sword and strapped it over his shoulder, than he hung the shield where he'd always put it, and couldn't help but feel a little more comfortable, and a little more at home.

"I'm ready. Draw and come at me when you are, Link. This is only a test of skill, though, and I will not wound you, so therefore, you know that you will not wound me, correct?" the bald Knight asked, just to make sure.

"Of course," Link said as he drew his own sword and unhooked his own beaten, but not broken, Hylian shield. He couldn't help but notice Banon's look of surprise...and Wrasten's offering of the reason for it from the wall where he and Damen watched.

"Aha! The boy's left-handed! Isn't that troublesome for you, old friend..." the snappy man cried out vehemently.

"It's nothing new," Banon told him, still facing me, then said, "Come at me, then. I may be an old man, but I have confidence enough to let you have the first strike."

Link did not even nod or give any affirmative. He knew that all in battle was deemed inevitable, and if Banon wanted to let him strike first, then he would strike. There were no rules here, other than the fact that it was only a game, with that as the game's only rule. It was liberating, to say the least, for Link to charge across the packed earth of the courtyard, and to hear his blade meet with the ring of steel on steel with that of a worthy adversary. Link had battled for longer than he'd supposedly lived. He'd been the Hero of Time and the Hero of some many other things in so many short years. He had fought everything from Peahats to Ganon himself, but it was still a sweet sound to hear, when he touched blades with another, even if it wasn't a real fight.

He didn't have time to dwell on that, though, as he soon found Banon to be much quicker than he'd judged. The broad, bald old man was light on his feet, and heavy with his blade. As soon as he'd parried Link's first strike, he took his, only to be met by a well-trusted Hylian shield. They continued as such, in a vivid dance of swordsmanship, never getting a chance to get a hit on one another. Just when it seemed like Banon was about to get Link in the side after he'd fooled him with a feint to the younger man's shield arm, Link jumped nimbly out of the way. Then, just as Link seemed to have slowed the old man down, and was about to get a slash across his belly, Banon's shield flew to block it faster than the hero imagined it even could.

They both knew at that first ring of steel, that they would end up this way, joined in a deadlock, in a match neither would win. And since they knew, they fought not to see who would win, but rather, why it was they were so evenly matched. Surely a Knight with 60-odd years of life experience and professional training could out-do a mere boy, who had sprung from nowhere but the Princess' stories. Surely, though, the Hero of Time himself could easily strike down an old rotund man who had never known a fight against the blinding rage of true evil. No...there was something else there, beyond all the titles and every battle that each had won and conquered. A bond, like that of a swordsman to his blade was strengthened every time they clashed. Whether or not they were who they were, or had done what they'd done, they were swordsman and warriors all the same. Knight and peasant didn't matter in this game, and that, is why they stopped.

"Oh come now!" Wrasten complained from afar upon seeing the two very evenly matched men stop and catch their breath. "I have money riding on you, Banon! I don't get anything from it of you call it a draw!"

"A draw...it is..." the old swordsman said, grinning through his short breaths.

Link nodded in acceptance as he to huffed from the exertion.

"Pity," Damen added. "I would've liked to have seen if either of you could have even won that round."

Banon swallowed one last gulp of air and then patted Link on the back. "He would have, eventually. The boy lacks the discipline of a Knight, but he has the stamina of a youth. My old bones would tire long before his."

"So that's what you'll teach him, then? Discipline?" Damen asked as he approached the two.

"Yes. I'm afraid that it is all I have to teach him that he has not already learn. Tell me, lad, who was it that taught you swordplay?" Banon pondered, obviously impressed by the hero's skills.

"I pretty much taught myself," Link explained. "Ever since I found a dagger in the woods, that was a sword enough for me when I was small, I just did what was necessary. A few people gave me tips along the way, but most of it I learned when trying to defend myself from Moblins and other such--"  
  


"Whoa there lad! Moblins you say? There haven't been any of those since I was your age, and believe me, that was quite a while ago," Banon pointed out.

"Ah...it's difficult to explain...but there have," Link told him, hoping that would suffice enough for an answer. He wasn't even sure if he could tell the Old Knights about the future that never was, and what happened then. No, they wouldn't believe him. Besides, he had never told anyone. They didn't need to know of the horror that had befallen Hyrule...

"Well, I trust your word enough," Banon responded. "It takes some rare evil creature to teach a young man such as yourself to fight so well. Tell me one more thing, though, lad. How are your skills with a bow?"

Thus began a round of target practice. Banon had been prepared with a bushel full of rotting apples that the castle's cook had been glad to dump off on him. He, with the help of the other Old Knights, set them up along the highest of the racks. Link's goal was then to shoot as many of them off as he could. Needless to say, he didn't miss one. Again, Banon wondered at where the young man's skills came from.

"Also in the woods, at a different time, that is," Link told them, "I found a bow while I was freeing this one, um...place from the monsters that plagued it. It turned out that the monsters causing the problem were these four ghosts, who could only be wounded by arrows. I learned what I had to know fast enough, or else I would be a fifth ghost there..."

At a loss for any use of the time, Banon asked a little later on, after they had cleaned up the apples and the arrows that were stuck in them, "So what else have you simply come across and learned how to use?"

Link, at a loss for a coherent explanation without giving them the entire, unbelievable story, just showed them. He pulled out all of his various weapons from their pouches and slings. The Old Knights had never seen a boomerang used by anyone other than a monster, and were amazed at Link's skill with it. They had him finish off the last of the apples with it, even though they demanded that he kept showing them how he could bring an apple from the top of the highest rack, far from himself, back to him on his boomerang completely unharmed. They also greatly enjoyed the hookshot, though there was nothing very impressive to test it out on, other than the old birch tree. Banon even asked to try it out, and Link just assumed that he was capable of using it. He showed Banon how to work it, but when the Old Knight let the chain retract, he lost his grip and landed face first in the dust, much to Wrasten's amusement.

The others they were less enthralled with, having seen plenty of bombs and Deku nuts in their lives. However, Link could sense a new kinship with the Knights forming. He had proved to them that he was indeed a fine warrior, more than they expected from a commoner, and slowly, but surely, he knew he was earning their trust, as well as their respect.

"I'll have to give that device of yours another try," Banon said as Link started to put away all his basic gear. "But definitely not today, or even tomorrow. Right now, though, I think a bit of lunch would suit us. Am I right, friends?"

Damen nodded a sharp affirmative and Wrasten chimed in, "I thought you'd never ask."

Link didn't notice, once again, that he was even hungry until food was mentioned. However, as soon as the words tumbled from the older swordsman's tongue, he couldn't help but agree. "As long as it's not as formal as the Princess says dinner is going to be," he stated.

"Oh don't worry, boy," Damen assured him, leading their way out of the sunny courtyard and back into the castle. "Whenever the Knights aren't required to eat with the rest of the highborn, we eat like soldiers, straight from the kitchen."

"The food tastes better that way, fresher, you see," Banon pointed out.

"And you're the living proof of it!" Wrasten declared, jabbing the weapons expert in his flabby side.

"You're none to talk, Sir Badger!"

It seemed to Link that they did not stop this kind of bickering, even though it was all in god fun. Wrasten always initiated it, he had observed. It was what he found funny, for the youngest of the Old Knights always flashed a grin whenever he was poking fun of his fellow aging fighters.

Their late lunch began as soon as they entered the kitchen, with the old men warmly greeting the guards that were taking the same kind of simple lunch. A hunk of venison, straight from one of the many roasting spits in the castle's expansive kitchen, a wheel of sharp yellow cheese, a loaf of thick bread, and a pitcher of cool water were shared amongst the Knights and their Squire. Link realized then, his stomach full and his grin flashing at the jokes Banon was telling the assembled men that sat at the simple wooden table, that he could get used to life here, even if it was only temporary. So long as there was such a break, once a day, or even once a week, from the rules and judgment, he could stand it. He felt normal here, and at home, eating simple food and talking with normal people.

But it did have to end, and it ended very shortly. Banon patted his now slightly rounder belly and then said. "Well, we've got other things to see to because of young Master Link here, so good day to you, gentlemen."

The soldiers were disheartened to see Banon go. It seemed that they looked up to him, and all took quite a shine to him. It was another thing Link noted, simply because it was remarkable that all of the dozen men that stopped into the kitchen in that short time made especially sure to greet the weapon's master.

"So we have another half of the story to prove now," Banon began as they exited the kitchens. "You're supposed to have a way with the horse too, as the word going around the castle tells me. I don't suppose you have a horse, do you, lad?"

"Actually...I do."

Wrasten looked thoroughly confused. "Then where is it? Did you stable it somewhere in town, or do you hide it in one of those pouches of yours?" he asked spitefully, if only in jest.

"No and no," Link answered. "She's out in Hyrule Field now."

"Well unless you've tied her to a tree, I'm afraid that's not the case anymore," Banon told him.

"Now, now," Damen interjected, having kept silent again for most of the meal, but still looking bemused. "Don't take the boy for a complete fool."

"Oh, I don't have to worry about that," Link said, taking it in stride. He was used to people criticizing his strange ideas of horsemanship. "Epona comes when I call her. I guess I haven't showed you half of my weapons yet, since it involves that sort of thing."

"What do you mean?" Wrasten demanded.

Link really wasn't sure if he should tell the Knights about the magical properties of the dozens of songs he knew, or even the few spells that Great Fairies had taught him over various times and places. He decided, though, that it would be all right to let them know a little about the songs, and that he would indeed have to prove it to them. "I play a song on my Ocarina, and she comes. I learned it from the ranch where I bought her. They have a way with animals like that."

"Now this I have to see!" Banon exclaimed.

Link could see that the bald man didn't doubt his claim. Banon was already impressed enough with him, and eager to see what other new skills Hyrule's newest Squire possessed.

They all just stood around for a moment, waiting for someone to do something. Only then did Link realize that they expected him to lead them out and show them. "Uh...which way to the market?" he eventually asked, feeling slightly embarrassed at the fact that he could find his way around any dungeon or grotto well enough, but he still had no clue how to get around the castle.

Damen then let loose a little chuckle. "I think we just forget that you've been here only a day. Follow me."

No one in town thought it unusual for a pack of men from the castle to descend upon the market. They still went rushing about their business, as they had done when Link had left Hyrule. Granted, there were some Imperial soldiers here and there, making sure everything was orderly. Link could tell them apart by their uniforms. They wore a purple tunic under a highly polished steel breast plate, with tight black trousers and steel-toed black boots, as well as steel-plated gauntlets and arm bands. Unlike Hylian soldiers, they had swords sheathed at their sides, as opposed to spears, and they lacked the signature pointy ears of the native race.

Before Link even knew it, they were across the drawbridge, and a different set of three Hylian guards let them pass out onto the field. Link almost wanted to see the guards that had let him in the day before, just to thank them again, since he couldn't quite fulfill his promise to them yet. Maybe it was for the best, but regardless, he had another decision to make.

Link wondered, as they stepped onto the grass, if the Knights knew what the Ocarina of Time looked like, and if it would be wise to use it. Link still had his old Fairy Ocarina, but he hadn't played it since he was a child, and it was probably off a little, simply from neglect and lack of use. He decided just to go for it and use the Ocarina of Time. If the Knights recognized it and had questions, he'd try as best he could to tell them all the half-truths he could. They'd never believe the real story anyway.

Link slipped the blue instrument out of its respective pouch and into his hands. For some reason, he always felt calm when the cool surface of the ocarina hit his fingertips. He often played it even when he didn't need to, either to get himself to sleep, or to brush off the homesickness he'd often felt during his travels. Hearing nothing from the Knights, he set it to his lips and played Epona's simple song, all three notes of its melody whistling forth from the little instrument in his hands just like they had done countless other times. He knew there was magic in every pure tone that came from it, and it amplified when he played them in a pattern that put that magic to use. It still mystified him, after all the time he'd spent playing the little ocarina.

Sure enough, Epona came galloping up over the hill, glad to once again hear the sound that meant her master was in need of her again. Only then did Link hear anything from the Knights, and all but Damen gasped uniformly. He, on the other hand, did not seemed so surprised. The horse came right up to Link nuzzled his shoulder, demanding to be of service.

"Hey girl," he greeted in soothing tones. "These are the Old Knights. Well, three of them, at least. They're friends, all right? Don't be shy."

Epona then stared down and sized up the three old warriors, only to turn back to Link.

"She seems to favor you," Banon observed. "I won't even ask, though, how you came across such a fine horse."

"Actually," Link told him. "I bought her at the Lon Lon Ranch just a little over seven years ago. Right before I left Hyrule."

"Where you got such money as a boy, I'll never know, but knowing Lon Lon horses, she must've cost a fair amount," Banon said, inching closer to look the mare over, but trying not to scare her.

"Not too much," Link recalled. "She was wild, even when she was a foal. Talon and Ingo said they had no hope of breaking her, and after I managed to ride her, with some help from that song, they said I could have her for 500 rupees. It was all I had, but it was well worth it, right girl?"

Epona snorted on cue.

Banon then crept up close enough to reach out and touch her. "Then is she still skittish to others?" he asked cautiously, before moving to stoke her neck.

"A little, but I'm sure she won't mind you. She's had plenty of boys handle her in plenty of stables, but I don't think she'll ever let anyone ride but me," Link affirmed.

"In that case..." Banon gently stroked Epona's neck, and she simply didn't give him much notice. He wasn't Link, therefore, he didn't matter to her.

Damen then stepped up and stroked her nose. She tolerated him, still not giving him much mind, then turned her head back to Link, as if to ask him why all these strangers insisted on touching her.

Wrasten stood back still, a doubtful smirk on his face. "All right then, boy," he challenged. "If you can tame the wild beast, then let's see how you ride it? I'm especially keen on seeing how you direct a horse that's not wearing a bridle."

It was Link's turn to smirk then. Waving the other two Knights off, he put away his ocarina and mounted Epona. She then pranced and huffed beneath him, ready for a run. Link clamed her with a simple touch on her shoulder. It meant to both that they would run another day. Right now, he had to show the Knights that he could ride like he'd been riding his entire life, which was almost true.  
  
"Want me to go through her paces first? I'll do the fancy stuff after that..." it was barely even a question, since Link didn't give them time to answer before he set Epona into a brisk, prancing walk. He circled a small area once this way, then let her trot. After circling again in the trot, he cantered one lap, then galloped another, finally coming to a swift stop, allowing Epona to rear, while comfortably keeping his seat upon her saddle.

His horsemanship was pretty unique, since he didn't have to use a bridle with her. Link couldn't explain why or how she knew what he wanted. He did squeeze her flanks with his legs and occasionally smack them with his freehand, but that only served to emphasize the point he was already getting across, without having to do or say anything. He could see that Wrasten was amazed by this, and he found himself taking great pleasure in it.

Then they set off in a run for a short length of fence along the road, jumping it with ease. They turned and went back over again, just to further the effect. Then for the finale, Link grabbed his bow and knocked a single arrow. He aimed, while still at a full gallop, for the sign that marked the location as Hyrule Castle, standing in his stirrups. He released the arrow and it hit dead center in the sign, just between the 'e' and the 'C'.

Despite Banon's cheering, Damen's grinning, Wrasten's fuming, and the yelling of one of the drawbridge guards about the arrow in the sign, Link couldn't help but feel good.

That was one thing in all his heroing days that he couldn't get over, even in all the growing up he was sent back to do.

Link still loved to show off.

It was strange, coming from a young man that generally didn't like to attract too much attention on a normal basis, who was even more secretive when it came to what exactly happened when he went into a dungeon, or fought off a powerful monster, but he didn't care. He had the skills. He had earned them and learned them, so why not let them see?

"Well done!" Damen shouted across the field to him.

This was Link's territory, out on the field with his horse, his weapons, and his hard won skills. He didn't belong in the castle, learning about rules and histories, but it was a quest of sorts, he then realized. It didn't involve sword fights or magic spells, but there were plenty of puzzles and enemies in store for him. That much he could see. It was just another dungeon that lay before him, but instead of looming ominously overhead, Hyrule Castle lay in the distance, its white stone sparkling in the afternoon sun.

But beneath the beauty and the propriety, there was, indeed, a dungeon, and not just the kind where traitors are thrown into. A new kind of monster plagued Hyrule. Link just had to get the Boss Key to fight it, but that key was going to take a lot of work.

He looked over his shoulder as the Knights bid him to put Epona in the castle stables and told him that it was time they headed back. As the wind blew the tall grasses, Link remembered the offer he'd made that morning and said to himself, his head still turned back towards what he knew, "When I come back, I'll introduce you to Zelda, Hyrule..."

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	6. Sixth

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

Hmm...what else SHOULD I be doing now...oh yeah...cooking up a design for the newly registered you-wish.net. Yup, we finally have our own real domain, courtesy of a friend. Just gotta, you know, put a website there. Argh...and I just redesigned for my brinkster hosted site in June. Oh well. Time for some Zelda...

"Well, young man," Banon said cheerily as they approached the castle stables. "I think you'll do just fine at dinner tonight. If anyone asks you about the sword or the horse, you can certainly answer them!"

A stable boy, probably no more than ten or twelve years old came up to Link and offered to take Epona. The swordsman chose to ignore the Old Knight for just a moment and gave the boy instructions. "Her name is Epona," he told the boy softly, "And she's fine with others handling her, but tell everyone who you work with that they're not to ride her. If I have time, I'll come and exercise her, all right?"

The boy nodded.

Link then smiled, his usual warning out of the way. "She'll be a little more friendly towards you if you give her a few carrots," he advised. "Oh, let me take her saddle bags!" he added after a moment.

Link then proceeded to unhook the heavy bags from his horse, and then fished around in one of them. He pulled out a bridle that looked like it had barely been used, simply because he only used it for show. "Take this if you need it," he told the boy. "You should be able to lead her without it, but just in case she gets stubborn."

"I'll take good care of her, sir," the little boy said, stroking Epona's nose gently to further his statement.

"I'm sure you will. My name's Link, if you have a problem with her and need to tell me. Can I ask your name?"

"Chasel, Master Link."

"Nice to meet you, Chasel. I know you'll take good care of my girl," Link affirmed and delighted in the smile that finally found its way to the quiet boy's lips.

Link gave Epona one more affectionate pat on the neck, then grabbed his saddle bags and turned back to the Knights.

"No wonder you have so can claim to have so many friends," Damen exalted, "If you treat every stable boy and serving girl in the world like that, then you can build yourself an army just out of your own kindness."

"What do you mean? I've always done that. There's no harm in talking to people..." Link was slightly confused by Damen's observation.

"No," Damen mused, grinning, "None at all. Here," he offered his hand to Link, "Let us take the bags. You've still got all of your other things on you and we've nothing to carry."

Link looked at both saddle bags, wondering if he should relinquish them. They were both very heavy, since they did, in fact, contain a plethora of items, most of which were not at all light. Also, if one of them should open...well...it would be another hour's worth of questions to answer. He decided to let it go, and willingly gave one to Damen's outstretched arm. The green-eyed man visibly staggered under the weight, as did Banon, who had grabbed the other bag from Link's right hand.

"For such a thin boy," Banon observed, moving the heavy pack onto his shoulder to carry it better. "I would never have guessed your strength."

"I'm just used to it," Link offered as an excuse.

"You're used to everything!" Wrasten snorted playfully. "Well, back to the north wing we go, eh gentlemen?" He smirked at his burdened companions.

Sure enough, both saddle bags were back in Links arms before they'd even hit the first flight of stairs. Things were starting to look familiar now, and Link now thought that he could navigate his way around the general area of the stairs that lead up to the chambers where the nobility slept. Those stairs were growing ever-so-familiar to him now.

When they got to his room, Link gratefully set down his bags just inside the door that Damen opened for them.

"What have you got in those things that weighs them down so, lad?" Banon asked, still a little short from breath, as he wandered over to sit in one of the chairs.

"Well, the one you had was probably the heavier one. I think that has my war hammer in it," Link concluded.

"War hammer? By Din, boy! Is there any sort of weapon in this world you don't own?" Banon exclaimed, half joking.

"There are a few," Link said with a chuckle.

"Looks like you've had a visit from the tailor already," Damen, who was standing behind all the others and facing away from them, observed.

Link turned and looked where Damen's eyes were set. Upon the red quilt of his bed was another set of clothes. He couldn't help but wonder how the tailor had managed to turn them out in the few hours since he'd measured the young man. The tunic was a deep red, and it was trimmed with strips of gold fabric that had a pattern stitched in the same color red as the rest of the tunic. The trousers were a golden brown color, sort of like sand, and trimmed with the same strip of gold and red fabric. A long coat, too, was included, and made of a fabric that was a darker shade of the golden brown. It was not meant to be closed, but it had a high collar and was slit in the back to allow freedom of movement.

"Well, well," Wrasten commented as he strode up to feel the fine fabric of the ensemble. "Seems that the tailor has worked his magic once again. If there's any tradesman in this world I have the utmost respect for, it would be him."

"You're all set for dinner then," Damen remarked, eyeing Link as he stood silent, admiring the beautiful new set of clothes and the speed at which they'd been delivered to him.

"Speaking of which, lad," Banon remarked from his seat at the little table. "You'd best be finding your servant and getting ready. Dinner's in two hours, and we need to speak with you a little bit before. So why don't we all get dressed and meet in the Den when we're ready?"

"Good plan, Banon," the youngest Knight affirmed.

Damen just nodded, then left without another word. The other two Knights followed suit.

Before Link could even ask after them as to how he should go about finding Vesta again, she appeared in his doorway, as if on cue. In her small, thin arms, she held a package wrapped in thick brown paper. "Oh good!" she exclaimed when she caught sight of him. "You're here! I was just getting the last of the stuff that I was supposed to pick up from the tailor for you. He said to tell you not to wear what's in here tonight, even if it goes with the rest."

Link took the package was explaining and opened it. He grinned as he laid his eyes on a hat, the same dark red as the tunic, with the little cuff done in the same sandy golden brown as the trousers. He would heed the tailor's advice, but as soon as he was left to his own accord, Link would be grateful to have his head covered once again.

Vesta scurried over to the little table that held the basin and pitcher, then proceeded to fill the basin. "They say you're sitting by his Highness the Emperor tonight, so you have to look good, or something. I have to go work in the kitchens soon, but only after I've finished helping you, Master Link," she reported diligently.

Link didn't quite understand why he would need a little girl to help him get ready for dinner. If it were up to him, he could go right now, or even in his dusty green clothes, but of course, nothing around the castle was up to him. And even so, he was perfectly capable of washing his face and changing clothes.

"I'll leave you to change while I go get a towel. Are you going to leave you hair like that?" she inquired, stopping in her path towards the door.

"Yes. Does it look bad?" Link asked, knowing, of course, that her answer would be yes. Of course it did. He couldn't wear his hat, for some odd reason.

"No, but it doesn't look good either," she pointed out. "But I'm sure you're not up on Hyrule's high fashion, right Master Link?" Vesta didn't even give him time to respond. "I'll get a few other things and make it look better." Then she was gone, just as rapidly as she appeared.

Link closed his door and eyed the clothes set out on the bed suspiciously. If he ever had the time, he surmised, he should find out how the tailor could do such things. It intrigued him. With that he changed into the new ensemble, finding that his belt and boots matched perfectly with it. The trousers were a little strange, though. They were loose, and not meant to be tucked into the boots, but rather worn over them. Other than that, though, it fit him perfectly, even the coat, which was another garment Link wasn't used to. Winters in the forest had always been mild, and ever since then, he'd been traveling, and often found himself on islands in the sea that had never known winter. It was spring in Hyrule then, and nearly summer, so he wondered what exact purpose the coat was to function as.

"Probably just for show..." he said to himself as he tugged at the fabric.

There was a knock at the door, and Link opened it to find Vesta waiting, towel and an assortment of other items in her hands, one of them being a small mirror.

Mirrors had always fascinated Link, ever since he'd first opened the chest in the Spirit Temple and saw his own reflection staring back at him, glinting off the face of the Mirror Shield. Granted, it wasn't the first time he'd encountered a mirror, even coming from the sheltered life he'd led in the forest, nor was it the first time he'd seen his grown-up image. It was just something in the way the dim light bounced off the surface of the gleaming shield that spoke of a greater power. Mirrors were said, in ancient times, to be sacred and even magical. Link had a reverence for them that was somewhere around that level.

While he thought over the tiny mirror, Vesta had already pulled out one of the chairs from the table and began to set down the things she was carrying. "Master Link," she addressed him, "Could you go wash your face and get your hair a little wet too? Not soaked, but...you know."

He nodded and did so, not thinking it strange in the least for her to request something of him. The little girl then directed him to the chair and he sat down. Only then did she have a hope of reaching his golden locks. She quickly ran a comb through his damp hair and straightened out the part that ran down the middle. Link normally didn't care too much about his hair. He just made sure it didn't get too tangled and had it so that his bangs were long enough to be tucked behind his long ears. Simple, but not very effective if he didn't have a hat to cover it up. Vesta combed the hair bend his ears so that it was tame and relatively straight. Link could see in the mirror, which was placed on the table in front of him, that it curled out at the bottom, though, but it did, in fact look better.

"That works well enough," she said from behind him, sounding pleased at the ease of the task. "You have really nice hair, for a boy, Master Link."

"Um...Thank you," was all Link could think to say.

Vesta giggled and then asked, "Do you like it that way?"

"Yes," he affirmed, getting up, and looking in the mirror still out of the corner of his eye, "It looks better this way. I'm just used to wearing my hat all the time."

"Oh I see," Vesta replied and began to gather what she'd brought with her. "Well, you're all set to go, even if you're a little early. I probably won't see you until tomorrow, Master Link, so good luck until then!"

"Thank you, and the same to you," he wished her as the girl once again left his room.

Left alone and wondering if he should try to see if he could find his way to the Knight's Den without a guide, Link eventually thought of a better idea. He was already tired of the emptiness of the shelves over in the corner of his room. His gear and saddle bags were unceremoniously lying on the floor, and he supposed that some of the less questionable items among them could use a place of their own. He passed the time setting swords, instruments, weapons, and shields on the shelves and looking over the treasures he brought out. The light from the window was getting dim when he finally pulled out the Mirror Shield.

Instantly, he was reminded of the Spirit Temple and when he'd defeated the Iron Knuckles for the shield that he held, the dim light of evening reflecting off of it and intensifying as he first put it on while standing on the outstretched hand of the Goddess of the Sand. Or rather, in Termina, when all of his belongings had been stolen by the Skull Kid who had been possessed by Majora's Mask, when he was in a similarly dank and dim place, fighting off various forms of the living dead for a similar prize. Regardless of which of many Mirror Shields there were, they always came towards the end of the conflict. Once Link realized this, at some point along his adventuring, he had allowed his affinity for mirrors to truly grow. It got him to wonder when it was that he would see the Mirror Shield of this conflict. Even if he knew it was just the beginning, he still wondered at the end.

What would Zelda do once she was Queen...?

That was a strange thought, of her being a Queen and not a Princess.

They had really grown up, and this time, he had seen all seven years in-between. When he'd first been sent back to his time, he had questioned if it was really worth it for him to go back to the correct and peaceful version of history. He had always wanted to know if it was supposed to be this way, him being allowed the rest of his childhood, and being denied the future that had been cast into darkness. Link realized then, though, and many other times, that there was no other way. At least in this Hyrule, there was light to reflect off the mirror...

"It seems like each time you change clothes, you get closer to being a truth, rather than lie," Damen said wistfully, leaning in Link's doorway and startling the young swordsman out of his thoughts.

Link only responded with a little smile as he put the Mirror Shield up on the top shelf, reflecting the last rays of the red sun.

"Come on then, nephew," Damen directed, his grin widening. "My fellow Knights and the Princess are already down in the Den by now..."

The Knight was wearing more formal attire now. His black tunic and trousers were trimmed with burgundy. He wore shiny black boots, which were also mostly hidden by the trousers, and a long grey coat, which was quite similar to Link's, only different in the lower collar and the fact that it could probably be closed if need be, and had brass buttons to do so.

Link straightened his own coat, with a new sort of confidence in his veins. It was time for the first dungeon, he thought.

Damen led them back to the room with the great carved doors where Link had been introduced to the Old Knights on the previous evening. He shoved one of the heavy doors aside, providing a glimpse at the already familiar glow of the great hearth, and the four figures that stood around it. The Old Knights, now the with eldest, Cortain, among their ranks again, turned to greet them first.

"Well, well..." Wrasten's voice echoed from across the room.

"From the very image of a Red Lion to a pretty boy just like Damen," Banon said through a chuckle.

"Indeed," Cortain agreed from where he sat, closest to the fire.

Zelda, on the other hand, whom Link had assumed the female silhouette to be, took her time. Only after the Old Knights had made their remarks about Link did she turn to face him.

In the orange glow of the fire, Link could see a smile on the Princess' fair face that he'd seen only once before. It was a mischievous, but accomplished smile, one that she gave him a little over seven years ago in response to him agreeing to help her find the Spiritual Stones. He, in turn, could only think to respond as he did then, with a smile of his own. "You really do look like a Knight, Master Link," she eventually told him as he approached, her voice betraying almost none of the emotion on her face.

"Thank you, Milady," he replied with a little bow, still grinning.

"No offense, Milady," Wrasten said in warning, interrupting the little moment, "But we have no time for games. There's business at hand."

Zelda immediately set expression to a serious and sagely one. "You're right, Sir Wrasten," she said with a nod, her gaze still on Link, then said to the hero, "The Old Knights have been moved up towards the Emperor tonight, and you have been reserved the seat of the guest of honor. That means that you sit to Terinae's left. I'll be right across from you and Damen will sit next to you, just in case anything should come up."

Damen took off smoothly where the Princess left off, as if they had planned the briefing out before hand. "As far as family goes, you know that your supposed father is Sir Dorian of the House of Red Lions, right? Of course. Your mother, however, was Lady Elensa. She wasn't of noble blood, but rather the daughter of the leader of a village that has long since vanished from the map of Hyrule, as did many in the war. The village was called Fortanian and was just north of the Lost Woods. After you were orphaned by the war, you were sent to the wild kingdom of Hassentern. It is a very forested place to the east of Hyrule that is barely a kingdom. A rich great aunt, shall we say, raised you on her manor and you roamed the vast forests she owned, hunting and riding away your youth. I don't think that the Emperor will get past that. Other details can be worked out in due time."

Then Wrasten took over, looking determined and oddly impassioned. "You must never, ever, use the Emperor's name when addressing him. In his land, or so they say, that is considered a great form of disrespect for one so high and mighty as him. You'll notice that he will also refuse to use your name, even when you're introduced to him or he greets you. Anyone of noble blood is always to be addressed by their title only when around others in his Empire. Among friends, it is all right to use names, but titles are still attached. If you hear him say 'Master Squire', he's talking to you."

"Gentlemen, the hour draws near," old Cortain said from his seat.

"Then we'd best be off," Banon affirmed, adjusting his embroidered tunic a little.

The Knights then made for the door, but Zelda stood still, and in turn, commanded Link, without any use of her voice, to stay with her. "By the way," she added quietly. "You'll be escorting me tonight. The servant will open the door and announce us. We go in first. I rather like the idea, and it was Damen who thought it up. It should confuse Terinae, if nothing else." The mischievous smile appeared on her face again. Zelda's wit was in the works, and ready to work its magic. "Also, you and I played together as children long ago, when your 'aunt was well enough to bring you for visits to Hyrule'. It's no lie that Sir Dorian was one of my father's favorite Knights, so it's all very possible."

The Knights had already left the great doors and one stood open, allowing the brighter light of the hallway to fill the fire-lit room. "Shall we go then, Milady?"

Link could get used to this who nobility thing, he thought, as long as he got to see Zelda as he had that day. She looked very beautiful in her pale blue gown with its fancy golden stitching and elaborate patterns, but she always looked good to him. Something about her always brought him at ease, so long as she was safe. He was beginning to feel roguish himself. They were going to go start the game, to fool the Emperor Terinae and get him to believe the lie so that Link could save Hyrule again. He grinned and offered her his arm.

She laughed lightly, not at any sort of foolishness on his part, but at the whole situation. The little boy that had snuck into her garden, done her will, and had grown into a young man who saved her countless times in a dark and impossible future, had done well for himself when he'd been given back his lost years, and now was doing her will once more, only in a gentler, more cunning way. She took his arm, and prepared herself for the look on the greedy Emperor's face when she walked in with the man that had grown from the little boy from the forest who snuck into her garden, dressed like a Knight.

"Yes, Master Link," the words amused her, and they both knew it. "Let's go."

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	7. Seventh

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda Fan Fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

I have a feeling this could be a long one...take a seat, people, and get a snack while you're at it.

Link had never been to the Great Hall before, but, of course, he'd seen the massive doors to it many times in his purposeful wandering throughout the castle's halls. There were two doors on the lower level, a great gilded pair that marked the entrance for various visitors of state to discuss their matters with the King, or whoever it was that held claim to Hyrule at the moment. Link assumed that the smaller, but no less golden doors on the other end were for all the important people to make their way into the Hall throughout the day. The door that was on the upper level of what Link could only imagine to be a great vaulted room, whose ceiling must've competed in height with the Temple of Time, was, as he found out when walking towards it, reserved for dinner and the grand entrances that the nobility of Hyrule made each and every night that they were called up.

The two fully-armored Hylian guards that stood watch over the great upper doors immediately stopped chatting with the already present Old Knights as Link and Zelda rounded the corner. They stood at attention, their chain mail clanking and clinking as they quickly stood their straightest and most respectful.

"It seems that everyone is waiting for us, Milady," Wrasten observed to the Princess, and valiantly motioned for her and her escort to go ahead.

Zelda shot one more encouraging smile at Link, just so that he could see it out of the corner of his eye. He was still feeling confident, and was just overall thrilled to have the Princess on his arm, but the sight of the golden doors did intimidate him a bit. He could only liken it to going into battle with a brand new sword, not knowing its weight or strength like he did an older, more familiar blade.

Regardless, she gave the word. "Open the doors, soldiers," Zelda commanded brightly.

They did, with their spear arms extended out, complete with a dulled weapon, for show, Link noted again, and spread the great doors wide open, revealing the Great Hall in a flash of light and finery.

"Lords and Ladies of Hyrule," a thin man, perhaps near middle age cried from the top of a grand staircase made entirely of the purest white marble, "It is my pleasure to announce her Highness, Princess Zelda Harkinian, and tonight's most honored guest, who has finally returned to the land of his birth after many long years, the Squire Link of the House of Red Lions, son of Sir Dorian and Lady Elensa!"

Link wasn't sure that he liked so many things applied to his name. At the most, it had either been Link, Mister Link, or "Hey kid!". It unnerved him to think of just how many words were necessary to describe a person in the castle.

As his eyes adjusted to the bright light of the room, which came from what must've been more than a thousand candles, most of which were in the three great chandeliers high above, Link could see the various people who sat at four long tables stand in welcome. All in all, there had to be about a hundred of them. Three tables where arranged below the great dais at the end of the room, and one was atop it. That one, Link noted, was the only one with empty seats, and at its head was the same man he'd encountered in the garden's the night before, though it took all of Link's sharp vision to make him out across the expansive room, which seemed about as big as Hyrule Field to him at that moment.

"Even I think it's a little extravagant," Zelda joked in whisper to him as they descended the marble stairs. Above them, the man called out the names of the Old Knights, as well as their houses and the names of their parents, but Link barely even heard them. He was too busy taking it all in. It was a room of nothing but wealth and the need to show it off. Gold reflected off of nearly every surface. Great murals of the glory of Hyrule were painted on the extensive walls, portraying everything beautiful Link had ever seen in his travels about his native land. Golden candelabras adorned each table, one every yard or so down the line, as well as fine china and crystal goblets, waiting to be filled with all the royal kitchens had to offer. The people were dressed in their best, and more often than not, their gaudiest. No wonder that the Princess even thought it a bit much...

Before he even knew it, Link had gone from one set of steps to another, and ascended the dais, made of the same white marble as the stairs. The Emperor pushed his chair aside and stood before them, at which point Link took the cue to part from the Princess, and bowed with her to the man that had taken over their land, not rising until she did. As soon as they were up, the Emperor himself bowed to the finest Hyrule had to offer him, but only bowing his head and the slightest bit of his shoulders, just to put the Hylians in their place. Link locked eyes with him as he too rose. Terinae looked quite intrigued at what had become of the common swordsman he'd seen the previous evening, but then the Emperor's eyes, which Link could now see were light golden brown, focused on the Princess.

"You look simply stunning, Highness," he told her. "And your long lost Squire has done very well for himself indeed to escort you tonight."

The Emperor, however, had gone through no extra finery for dinner. His own gilded armor and cape seemed to be a permanent fixture of his appearance.

"Thank you, Lord Emperor," she responded, no genuine emotion in her voice, "And I am glad that I can formally introduce you to one of my oldest friends."

Terinae nodded at Link, his golden eyes aglow with concentration, as if looking for something in Link's own cerulean eyes. "Then I shall be very glad to share my table with you, Master Squire."

"And I you, Lord Emperor." Link had been very careful when choosing his words. He was under the impression that many things were best left to be communicated without words to the Emperor. He was thinking of something whenever his eyes were on the young hero, and Link wished for nothing more than to find out what it was.

Then, after all the propriety of that part of dinner was through, they sat while the Old Knights followed in similar fashion, greeting the Emperor. Once all had been seated again, the crier on the staircase called out, "Then I bid you good evening, Lords and Ladies of Hyrule, and a good feast!" With that, he disappeared into the closing doors with their guards. A tense moment of silence pervaded the gigantic room, then the kitchen staff began to rush in, bearing everything from roast boar to red wine in hand, and laying it out before their supposed betters with both care and efficiency.

From his seat at what must've been the high table, Link tried to see if he could spot Vesta among their number, but it was impossible to tell in the multitude of people and speed.

Instead of prolonging the fruitless search, he focused himself on the task at hand. Right now, a creamy soup was being placed before all at the high table, and Link kept his eyes on the Emperor, while still trying not to gain the man's attention, simply because the look he tended to give Link irked the hero with its mystery. All eyes, in fact, were on the Emperor, and when he began his meal, so did all of Hyrule Castle.

The soup, pretty tasteless and bland by Link's standards, was made quick work of, and while the servants scrambled to clear away the bowls and set out the next course, Emperor Terinae took the opportunity to chat with his guest of honor.

"So, Master Squire, how are you enjoying life at Hyrule Castle so far? I understand that you haven't been here since you were but a little boy, right?" the armored man asked, leaning back in his plush chair a little.

"That is so, your Highness, and so far I have enjoyed what I have experienced here. It's good to be in the company of the Old Knights again, but they have made me realize that I still have a lot to learn," Link responded, just barely making eye contact and trying to mimic the cool, collected way that Zelda spoke in when she was dealing with the Emperor.

"Well, them I am sure it is an agreeable kind of learning that you are doing. The Knights are good men, and I can sense that Hyrule will be pleased to add another to their elite number," Terinae responded, waving off a man that offered to top off his goblet.

"It would be my honor to do so, Lord Emperor," Link still couldn't manage to speak Terinae's titles with any amount of affection or reverence, "And it is my hope that I can learn enough to be qualified for it."

"You seem like a good lad, Master Squire, so it is my hope that you do as well. Tell me, Sir Knights, what exactly is required for the boy to become a Knight? In Wrineria, we do not abide by the ways of chivalry, and we have only learned of through our foreign relations." Some how, that seemed odd to Link. As long as he wasn't out at sea, among the isolated islands, he had always encountered kingdoms that were a great deal like Hyrule. If that wasn't the case, then he was in a wild land, ruled by no man, or he was in a commonwealth, like Termina.

"Well, Your Highness," Wrasten answered two seats down from Link, sounding genial, "First, a boy must be born into a red house, and then he is trained as a Page. Then, he is dubbed a Squire once he is old enough, and taught the horse and the sword. From then on, he is merely to acquire all the skills of a Knight and master them. Once he has proven that he has mastery over each and every skill set down by our law, then he may be Knighted if the King sees fit that he should. In the end, it is all the King's decision, otherwise, we would have many good fighters becoming Knights, but few good men, if you get my meaning, Highness."

"I see, and thus, our Squire's dilemma," the Emperor responded with a curt nod, then went onto the next course, bringing the entire hall with him, and dismissing the issue entirely.

This one was a small plate of fresh vegetables, sweet fruit, and sharp, but strangely white cheese. It only served to make Link hungrier. He began to think that he would have to make a stop at the kitchens before he went to bed, just to fill up.

As they waited on the servants to slice the large roasted boar they had set upon the table for the highest ranking guests, Terinae made another attempt at conversation. It seemed that the Emperor favored food over talk, unlike most of the nobles that chattered away their dinners.

"So, Princess," he addressed Zelda, leaning forward after someone took his plate, "You and Master Squire here were childhood friends, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Yes. We didn't see each other very often, but my late father had always favored Master Link's late father as a Knight, and made a point of allowing us all the time we wanted to play when Master Link could come to the castle. It was long ago, though, and I'm afraid that is has really been too long."

"How long is long ago for you, Princess? One so young as you has a different concept than most of this table."

"Oh," Zelda caught Link's wandering gaze as he tried to pay attention and smiled, just barely, "I'd say the last time your aunt brought you to Hyrule was just over seven years ago. Does that seem right to you?"

Link suppressed an all-out grin. He knew what she was getting at. "That seems pretty, accurate, Milady."

"So why haven't you visited since then, Master Squire?" the Emperor inquired, commanding Link's eyes away from Zelda.

"My aunt, may Nayru watch over her, never had great health in her old age. I'm afraid she passed away just two years ago. My cousins and I, when we weren't tending to our duties about the manor, had to keep constant care of her in those last few years, Lord Emperor, so I'm afraid that made visits to Hyrule rather impossible." Link had to admit, lying got easier and easier each time he did it.

"Ah, I see. So why did you choose now to come back to Hyrule for good, then, if I may ask?"

Link, however, just realized that he must've reached his lying quota for the day when he was suddenly at a loss for words.

"If I may, Highness," Damen's deep, soothing voice interjected, saving Link the effort of lying again, "I will tell you that Master Link here is just about the right age to be seeking his Knighthood, and I'm sure that, even after his aunt was released into the merciful arms of the Golden Goddesses, he had many obligations in Hassentern that served to make this time best for him."

Link nodded, for effect, but trying not to look too eager about it. "That's the shorter version of it, yes," he added after another thought.

"Ah, that makes sense enough," the Emperor then paused momentarily, looking into his goblet. "Well, I believe a toast is in order, then, Lords and Ladies." He rose his voice at the last part, alerting all that were near as to what was about to happen. The high table went silent, and the entire hall followed thereafter.

The Emperor stood, then the rest. He raised his glass, then the rest. It was all like some form of puppetry, Link thought, except for instead of strings, the Emperor held the people of Hyrule by invisible threads more complex than any ever seen by the naked eye.

"To the Knights of Hyrule," the Emperor proclaimed, sounding more like a general than a disenchanted host, "May their order grow and prosper with all the honor it deserves."

"To the Knights!" the room echoed and drank.

As Link took a sip of the dry red wine, he saw Banon beaming across the table out of the corner of his eye. Somehow, that redeemed all the pageantry and propriety of the night. It was good to see that he had helped make someone happy. It was always the best part...

The main course was served up differently, allowing the nobles of Hyrule to take on the task of making up their own plates. The boar, as well as a few pheasants were offered up as the meat, while great gleaming silver dishes were lined with all manner of vegetables, and every way one could think possible to serve a potato. Brown rolls and thick gravy were among a few other occupants, all of which Link was grateful for. He would actually have a filling meal that night.

The Emperor seemed to lose interest in his guest of honor and the Princess as the night lingered on. He spent more of his few words on his generals, who sat just next to the Knights. They talked of their legions and of Wrineria, and Link found himself losing interest very quickly. It seemed that within the expanses of the Empire, all was strictly business. Nothing else reserved much importance. In fact, the young swordsman had only seen the Emperor lighten his grim visage around one person, and that person was sitting in front of him, trying to look engaged in the conversation between the Emperor and his men. He supposed that Zelda had to do that sort of thing, that is, entertain the man that had taken away her crown, even though it was really her people that had done so.

As Link pushed his empty plate aside, waiting to do so only as the Emperor himself did, he wondered why it was that the people of Hyrule had to rise up against Zelda. Even if he had never known her from before, Link, as a citizen of Hyrule himself, would have had no qualms with her ascending to the throne. True enough, he was ignorant of a great deal of the goings on in Hyrule, but he trusted her to be a wise and competent ruler. After all, she didn't carry the Triforce of Wisdom for nothing. Then again, had he not known her from that day she told him about her dream in the gardens seven years ago and what resulted thereafter, he wouldn't have known her to be so wise. It really was probably only himself, Ganondorf, and the Sages who knew of Zelda's true wisdom. All that was too much to put on one's mind with a full stomach, though, Link told himself, and he shook it from his thoughts, saving that sort of pondering for another day.

The food was cleared and the people lingered on, only leaving a few at a time, and only after dismissing themselves before the Emperor. Most lingered heavily over their goblets, and saw that they were never kept empty for long. Link, however, was never one to drink a great deal, and he didn't really like the wine to begin with. He mostly kept silent, saying a few words here and there to the Old Knights, or to Zelda. The Emperor asked him a few more questions about himself, but never anything too in-depth so that Link couldn't come up with an answer. It was keeping all that he said straight that worried the hero the most.

"Shall we bring in tonight's entertainers then?" Emperor Terinae asked the nearly full high table after a while, sensing a general dullness about the evening.

The table and then the hall murmured a general consensus, but then the Princess rose from her seat and commanded their attention.

"I'm afraid that I shall have to retire before they arrive, Lord Emperor," she addressed him, her face stiff and her voice stern. Zelda shot a quick look at Link, and he knew immediately that he was to follow her. "The night grows on, and I have to wake early tomorrow morning to bid farewell to Ambassador Theseus, and he has already departed for his chambers."

"Then it is with much grief that I bid you goodnight, for your presence will be missed tonight, dear Princess," the Emperor told her, also rising to send her off.

Link decided that he wouldn't have another opportunity to follow her and chose that moment to rise himself and interject, "Allow me to escort you, Milady. I'm afraid that I too must retire early tonight."

The Emperor then looked back at Link with that same questing look that unnerved the younger man, but Link tried his best to ignore it, and Zelda jumped on his offer before Terinae could even say a word.

"Why thank you, Master Link," she responded jovially, the playful hint of deception in her eyes still. Link knew that she wasn't planning on going to bed, but rather, that she had something to tell him. "I'd be delighted."

"Go on, lad," Banon said with approval from his cozy position, leaned back in his great chair, "You have obligations to deal with early in the morning and you'll need that youthful strength of yours."

Terinae didn't let it show in great amounts, but Link could detect some subtle hints of the Emperor's displeasure at the situation. "Very well then, young Master Squire," the armored man said, "I bid you goodnight as well, and I have been honored to enjoy your company on this night."

"And I yours, Lord Emperor," Link said, adding a little bow to show his respect.

With that, Link strode over to where Zelda stood, feeling mildly victorious and somehow more comfortable in his strange clothes. He offered the Princess his arm once again, and they exited from whence they came, with a great deal less flare, since the crowd had gone back to their conversations as they walked off.

As soon as the Hylian guards closed the doors, Zelda smiled at him. "You did very well," she praised, still keeping up appearances for the guards and servants that stood or ran about, but unable to contain herself outright.

"Thank you," Link responded, "But I couldn't have done it without a good teacher."

She let out a little laugh and led them away from the hall. Link began to recognize the views he got of the moonlit gardens from the small windows they passed, and soon realized that they were going to that one particular spot again. That part of the castle was virtually deserted, seeing as everyone was either enjoying themselves in the hall or getting ready for bed at that hour. Only when they came upon the doors to the garden, though, did Zelda break away from him and let her excitement really show.

"You really did wonderful, Link!" she exclaimed. "Did you see the way that Terinae was looking at you at dinner? He believes it! Every single word! No wonder though, since now you can look and act the part..."

Link was glad to see the he had pleased the Princess as well with his actions at dinner. "I don't think he really likes me, though, but I'm pretty sure he's buying it. Like I said, though, I couldn't have done it without your help, and the Knights, and, well, pretty much everyone else I've met so far."

"For such a feat as that," Zelda told him, "You had barely enough help to even say that you had help in the first place. You've convinced one of the most powerful men in the world that you're someone who's never existed!"

Link then took a cue from himself to open the door for them, letting the pale blue moonlight mix with the rough orange light from torches on the wall. "Deceit's never really been my weapon of choice," he reminded her, "But I guess it's an accomplishment."

She laughed, this time a full hearty, but still Princess-like laugh. "I guess you're right, but well done all the same. It won't be long before you can help us get Hyrule back."

They walked along the moonlit paths for a moment, the hero loyally following his Princess as she led them to the spot they both knew they'd end up at. After a few moments of silence, Link asked, "So, how exactly are we going to do that?"

Zelda stopped, and he could see her playful, happy demeanor fly off into the night sky. "Of that, I'm still not completely sure. There are many things that we can do, but there still remains the question of what we should do, and I'd prefer not to give you an answer until I have reached _that_ answer."

"I see."

They were silent until they reached the little courtyard where they'd first met, having lost the proud, triumphant mood they had once had.

Link noticed that the moonlight made the Princess look quite pale. Her fair skin and hair had a silvered quality to them in the eyes of the moon. The very brightness of the full moon that night reminded Link of his travels in Termina and the bright nights he had spent there, however, this moon over Hyrule, and that which stood under it, was a vast improvement over that adventure. He could see the Zelda in her that he had watched the collapse of Ganon's tower with in that light, and somehow, it comforted him.

"Link," she began, ascending the stone steps as he watched her from the grass below. "Do you remember the first time you came here?"

"How could I forget?" he retorted, a sense of reverence for her hidden in his voice.  
  


She brightened up a little, her eyes on the stones at her feet, rather than on him. "We were so foolish then, to think that we could save Hyrule all by ourselves, just two little children who knew nothing of the world."

This Zelda reminded him of one in a brighter light, and with the memory of her, came the memory of regret and a mixture of emotions Link didn't quite understand as he watched her growing ever more distant, as he was set back to what was right for him.

"I should hope now, that things are different. That is, that we won't run into unexpected troubles along the way again."

This time, the image of Sheik against the darkened crystal walls of the icy room where Link had just finished off a White Wolfos came to mind. A similar light from the ice and snow that surrounded them played off of his features, though Link wasn't sure if it was more appropriate to say that it played off of _her_ features instead.

"But, whatever the case," she started to conclude, now looking at him, as various images of her danced before Link's eyes, "I'm sure the Goddesses will be on our side. After all, we still have proof of that, don't we?"

Link look mystified. Perhaps it was all that he had on his mind, or perhaps he really didn't understand what she was saying. Regardless, Zelda stepped down slowly, approaching him with a sad smile on her face. She took his left hand in her right, only adding to his confusion at first, but he soon realized why.

The faint mark on his hand started to glow, and from beneath her white gloves, so did Zelda's. Courage and Wisdom were resonating, recognizing one another. The foundations of the Triforce, the two bottom triangles that held up Power were always a team, and that never changed, despite anything their carriers ever thought.

Link could hear a faint ringing, not unlike the sound he heard when he took a blow to the head, only this was soft and welcoming, rather than painful.

Courage was blind; Link knew this. He charged head long into battles when the odds were nothing but against him, and only by Courage had he come out alive and victorious. He couldn't always do that until the end of his days, though. He needed a purpose, a goal, and guidance. Wisdom, and, in turn, Zelda, was just that.

Wisdom was faint of heart; Zelda knew this. She had always known what was right, but when she or others were wronged, she had also known that it was unwise for her to fight it. That very carefulness, though, would cost the Princess of Destiny her life, if it went on for too long. She needed a sword, a champion, and a hero. Courage, and, in turn, Link, was just that.

Power was alone...and they both knew this. It was because of the fact that Power didn't depend on anything else that it was inherently weak. In the end, with nothing to fall back on, with no hero, no guide, Power would die alone. It was fate.

"Forgive me," Zelda said, pulling away from him and from the enlightening meeting of Triforces. "I...I just wanted to be sure. You do know, Link, that you and I are destined for great things, and as much as we did do before, those things are nowhere near their end."

"I had never thought differently, Princess." It was the truth. Link had indeed hoped that one day he could hang up his sword and live a normal life, but he had always known that that could never really be the case. 

"Please Link," she appealed, her eyes once again on the ground, "Call me Zelda. I'd prefer that you do, when no one is around to hear you. I like to think that I can have a name as well."

"If that's what you wish then, Zelda."

She lifted her head and looked at him. Once again, the moonlight betraying her sad smile. He looked strange to her, but somehow right in his fancy clothes and missing his trademark hat. He looked very handsome in them, she admitted to herself, and was a far cry from all the other men in Hyrule that pledged their loyalty to her. She had always had his, even before that different time, but in that same place, seven years ago...

"I think we should sleep now, Link," she told him, her voice now softer and less grave. "I want to see you after I see off the Ambassador. Tomorrow, Sir Cortain and I are to assess your knowledge of history."

Link nodded. She could see that he was too disposed in his thoughts to form much more of a response.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, then, Hero of Time," she stated, grinning at the use of Link's grandest title and walking past him, back towards the door.

Something within the young swordsman was awakened at that moment, and he felt the weight of a very familiar object in one his coat pockets. He didn't remember putting it there, but then again, it wasn't the first time such a thing had happened. Perhaps, that's why she'd given it to him so long ago...also in that very same place...since it seemed to stay with him despite his knowledge.

"Wait," he demanded nervously, an idea forming in his mind.

Zelda stopped and turned to face him, still smiling.

He smiled back weakly, wondering what how she would react to what he was about to do.

Link pulled the Ocarina of Time out of the pocket it had claimed, and quickly set it to his lips, beginning the very first song he ever learned to play on an ocarina, and a song that both of them knew very well. The simple melody of Zelda's Lullaby echoed off the walls as it did when he first played it. True enough, the whistling tones of the Ocarina of Time were a great deal more pure than those of the Fairy Ocarina, but Link couldn't help but let himself be wrapped in the nostalgia.

Zelda, however, hadn't heard those notes in a very, very long time. They called to her from the past, from the happier, ideal Hyrule that she had known in her childhood. She knew the magic of the song, of its power and use, but to her, it would always be a lullaby.

As he finished and opened his eyes once again to look at her, she said, her voice soft and a little choked up, "Now I remember why it made sense to give the Ocarina of Time to the Hero of Time..."

Link could sense her own joyful nostalgia and it made him happy to know that he had brought a little bit of her childhood back to her again. "Why's that, Zelda?"

"Because you always know, when, where, and how to use it to help people." She was really genuinely touched by his gesture.

"Then you're saying I should keep it?" he inquired, realizing that he could kill two birds with one stone, and get the answer to a question he'd wondered about for a while.

"It's always been yours. The Royal Family was just keeping if for you," she started to turn to leave again, but then said simply, "Thank you, Link, thank you, as always."

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	8. Eighth

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda Fan Fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

This fan fiction is ungodly long for eight chapters...did you know that?

It was hard for Link to believe that he'd been living in Hyrule Castle for an entire week when he woke up on a particularly sunny morning, or rather, was woken up violently by Vesta yet again. As he groggily returned to the world beyond his dreams, he remembered why it was that he was in this big stone room, and not lying on some forest floor. Hyrule was in need of his help again, as was Zelda.

The week had gone by fast, and Damen had been correct enough in telling Link that he would almost never have any free time on his hands. Whenever he wasn't learning the ways of the Knights, rather by sword or books from Cortain and the library, he was either at one of four places. He was usually either eating or sleeping, but occasionally, he was off to do better things. 

Every morning she could find at least an hour of time, Zelda would call for him as early as possible. He had only seen her three mornings since the first. One of those decided that Link knew his religious history, but nearly nothing of the history of Hyrule as a nation. Another was spent mostly with his words, telling her about where he had been and what he had done in the past seven years, though greatly abbreviated due to the amount of time it would take to tell her everything. The latest morning was spent going over people that Link should familiarize himself with. Other nobles and soldiers it would pay to know, as well as where one could find them and what their role was inside the castle walls. 

There was one thing, though, that Link wished to talk to the Princess about more than anything else. He had been keeping questions to himself about that quest of which they only shared a memory of for many years, and as he readied himself for the day, Link realized that he was due to see her again that morning, and might just get some things answered, for once.

However little he saw her during the day, Zelda always made it a point to have Link take her to and from dinner. Even the naive hero could see that she was playing a jealousy trick on Terinae, and it was obvious to Link at that point that the Emperor was indeed seeking Zelda's affections and probably had been for quite some time. However, it was also obvious that he had never found anything, and Zelda choosing of her 'old friend' as an escort when she had never had one before, was even more proof that his seeking was in vain. Terinae responded to this, though, by ending Link's, as well as the Old Knight's, short stay at the high table, and in turn, put them back to the second table, where the old men informed Link was their normal place. This surely didn't stop Zelda, and the nobles who sat down with Link asked him over and over again why it was that the Princess was always on his arm. 

His explanation was always the same. "She delights in my company as much as she did when we were children. Our late fathers were always good friends, and we are as well."

Damen had told him to say that. 

There was a change, though, since Link had first stepped into the Great Hall to dine with Hyrule's finest. After he took Zelda straight back to her chambers, he was to report to the Knight's Den, where he was to talk with the Old Knights and continue his learning, until the old men felt the need to sleep. He could tell Wrasten didn't care for the Princess' actions, since he was always in a foul mood when Link came to them in the evenings. Banon, however, came alive during these nighttime sessions. He loved hearing Link's stories of distant lands and adventures, which made up most of the time they spent in the Den. Damen himself had requested that they hear of their fake Squire's real life, and so Link began to give them the detailed version of his life, over the course of many evenings, and emitting a certain, less believable quest...

The other place that Link would go in his free time, though, was the stables, where he would talk with Chasel, the boy who had taken responsibility for Epona, and exercise his horse. Epona was glad to see her master in the few moments he could take to spend with her, often offering her a few carrots or an apple now that he knew his way to the kitchens, but it wasn't ever a very long stay. Link, now wondering why any sane young man would aspire to be a Squire, was too busy to attend to the things that had once made up most of his days. 

After a morning spent either talking to Zelda or learning Hylian history for old Sir Cortain, who spent his days amassing knowledge from Hyrule Castle's extensive library, Link would go for a long walk with Damen, on which they would talk about the House of red Lions and about the war that had taken so much of Hyrule's old glory. Link learned that the Gerudo had only recently become a part of Hyrule, and for a great deal of time beforehand, they had been the mortal enemies of the peaceful citizens of Hyrule, often raiding and stealing from the outlying villages when Hylian troops were scarce. 

In fact, the war from which Link knew he'd been born was between the Gerudo Nation, and Hyrule itself. At that time, Ganondorf was ordering his thieves not only to steal, but rather to kill and destroy all that they could when they raided in Hyrule. The problem grew worse and worse, until one day, the Gerudo burned the village closest to their border to the ground, and left only five survivors from a healthy community of nearly one hundred people. King Harkinian had had enough, and he ordered a full scale assault on the desert thieves, intending to bring them under his power, in hopes of stopping the destruction that Ganondorf had ordered them to cause. 

In the end, the Gerudo's put up an incredible fight, one that was greatly underestimated by the people of Hyrule. Even as the Sheikah, Gorons, and Zoras joined ranks with the Hylian troops, both sides suffered innumerable losses. Nearly all the outlying villages of Hyrule were either burned down or abandoned. 

"The ruins of some can still be seen today in the form of stone circles, which used to be the foundations of houses, and the broken fences that once marked their perimeters," Damen had said.

A great deal of the people of Hyrule were lost as well, in this conflict that spanned nearly ten years. Once a strong and populous kingdom of over five thousand, Hyrule was barely at a thousand citizens now, and that was even after they'd had nearly twenty years to recover from the brunt of the war. 

However, King Harkinian did managed to conquer to Gerudos, even at the expense of nearly all of his Knights and soldiers. They finally submitted and gave a tentative allegiance to him, and even when Harkinian died, the Gerudos, now with their King mysteriously gone for many years, still remained loyal to the throne, even if it was a confusing place at the moment. 

Link had always wondered what had happened in that war. From the sound of it, the war against the Gerudo even rivaled the Imprisoning War itself, however, Damen wouldn't know about such a thing. Even if he could tell the Old Knight, Link would refuse. He could see that it hurt Damen to think of the sacrifice Hyrule had made, as well as his own family. All of his brothers had been taken from him, as well as their children, and their wives...none were spared.

"They knew that it would happen, though," Damen said solemnly one morning. "A Knight is not a Knight just for show, or for the title. He accepts a tremendous responsibility when he takes up his sword, as do all of his loved ones. It is part of the life, and in turn, the death."

"Then it is deserving of all the admiration in the world," Link offered in response, mostly to comfort his new friend. Even though Link himself was proof enough that the war was long past, he knew exactly how memories could haunt the warrior that lived through it all. 

Lunch was then taken with the soldiers in the castle kitchens. Here and there, Link picked up the names and friendships of a few guards. They answered another question he hadn't bothered to ask one day, while the Old Knights, their Squire, and the common soldiers dined on some stew that one of the kind old cooks had ready for them. 

"Has anyone here heard word from Karkariko lately?" one guard asked the lot of them.

Another responded, "I hear that the Emperor's legions are still keeping a strict hold on the village. They won't let too many people in or out at all, but a friend of mine--"

"Oh come now!" a third exclaimed, "It can't be that bad! True enough, it seems strange for the Emperor to keep his troops a town over, but there's no room for a legion in Castle Town! There's plenty of houses to commandeer in Karkariko, as well as plenty of open space for tents. Just seems practical, if you ask me."

That, of course, was why Link hadn't seen too many of the Emperor's men. He could always tell those type of foreigners by the fact that they had strange, rounded ears. Even if they were out of uniform, they were easy to spot among the pointy-eared Hylian population.

Link's afternoons were spent with Banon in the little courtyard, either showing the rotund weapon's expert his stranger items, or learning discipline and form with the sword. All in all, Link looked forward to those few hours he got to spend sweating out in the sun each day. He felt at home there, fighting with another skilled swordsman. 

Some times, sword lessons were cut early so that Link could join Wrasten in the Den and learn more about propriety and manners, and also what all the strange gestures meant. It was a lot to remember, but Link had a well-trained mind for that sort of thing, thanks to all the dungeons he'd been through in his relatively short life. 

The evenings were dominated by dinner, of which Link was beginning to grow sick of. It made him want to run to the stables, saddle up Epona, ride off into the night, bow in hand, and shoot his own game, then cook it over his own fire, like he used to do. Of course, he couldn't do such a thing, but it was a nice image to put into one's head when the dinner conversation was lacking. 

On that new day, however, as the sun shined into his bright stone room, Link decided to go with the blue outfit, complete with another matching hat, and changed quickly, so that Vesta wouldn't have to wait outside with his breakfast. 

He had gotten the little girl to be a bit more honest with him, and even persuaded her to drop the 'Master' whenever there wasn't anyone around to hear her. 

"I hear that enough when I talk to everyone else in this castle," he had told her, "So it would be a welcome change not to have to hear it from you as well, don't you think?"

He opened the door, still feeling grateful for the tailor's gift with making his hats, and saw Vesta coming down the hall, followed closely by Wrasten's man, of whom Link didn't know the name of, yet. He rarely saw the Old Knights up in their nearly abandoned hall, and out of all four of them, he had only seen the inside of Damen's chambers when the green-eyed Knight had invited him in once. 

Link was actually surprised to find them almost completely bare, but he knew that Damen probably used him small set of rooms for nothing more than sleeping, and probably didn't feel the need to make them more homey. He was just that kind of man.

So the Squire chatted with his own servant as he ate, becoming a little more accustomed to her presence with each passing morning. She was intrigued by all the things Link had set out on his shelves, even though they were actually the more common of all of his bizarre collection of items. He explained them all to her in those early mornings, still being careful to leave out all the details he had to leave out. She didn't even know of the stuff that still sat in the saddle bags that Link now kept in his chest, nor would she. Those were the things of a more magical nature, and not what Link wanted to show just anyone, even as much as he did trust his honest little servant.

Vesta left with his tray like she did every morning, and bid him goodbye until he needed to get ready for dinner. 

Only when she had left the room and he couldn't hear her shuffling down the hall, did Link give his reflection a scrutinizing look in the Mirror Shield. The blue outfit wasn't his favorite Kokiri green, but it would have to do. It did, however, bear quite a bit of resemblance to his old clothes, though, and he always felt more comfortable in it. The tunic was a plain dark blue, though made out of an obviously expensive fabric, and the shit he wore underneath it was both white and tight on him. It was meant to go with either white or blue trousers, both of which Link now had, but he preferred white. The hat, of course, matched the tunic and was solid blue as well. Link also liked it because he could wear his gauntlets easily with this outfit, and he knew well enough to keep his hands covered as much as possible. At dinner, he had seen a few people recognize the mark on his hand, but they had never questioned him about it...thankfully. 

He supposed, though, that he looked well enough to visit the Princess, and without further ado, started off on the short trek to her door. 

As always, Zelda's lady in waiting, the quiet Calandra let him in and instructed him to wait in the front room of what Link could only assume were the Princess' spacious quarters. She never kept him waiting too long, which was good. He never felt quite comfortable, just standing there. 

A light, "Good morning, Link," roused him from the staring contest he was having with his own boots. 

The hero looked up to find the Princess entering the room, clad in a simple, but elegant off white gown. To him, and probably to most men, Zelda looked good in anything, but there were few noble women that could pull off a dress like that. In fact, Link noted that most of them were old and on the heavy side. It seemed to him that young blood was a rarity in Hyrule Castle. It was another thing he'd have to think about...later.

"Good morning, Zelda," he replied with a little bit of a bow. It had only been on his second visit that Zelda had urged him to speak freely around the ever-present Calandra. It was true that the quiet girl was no mere servant, but instead the daughter of a Count that had volunteered to wait on the Princess when they were both quite young, so Link didn't fear any kitchen gossip slipping from her tight lips, but it took some getting used to. Zelda had obviously grown accustomed to her long ago, but Link was still edgy about the fact the he too had someone waiting on him, let alone the idea that nearly everyone else did. 

"It's been a few days since we've really had time to talk," she informed him as she invited him to sit at the little table that their morning talks dominated. "What with all the Knights are putting you through."

"I don't really mind all that much," Link affirmed as he waited for her to sit down first. "I mean, it would be nice if I had some more time to myself, but then I wouldn't know what to do with it. I'm learning a lot, though."

"That's good to hear. Anything of particular interest to you?" Zelda inquired.

Link surmised that he would have to get past the chit chat in order to ask what he wanted to ask of her, and also, as his eyes shot to the door where Calandra kept exiting and entering from, he was still wary of the quiet lady in waiting. "Damen's been telling me about the Unifying War and its effects on Hyrule. I know that I was born, as were you, during that time, but I never knew much about it, nor the Hyrule that came before it. I understand that things were a lot different before the war than they are now." 

Zelda nodded a little. "Yes, there were a lot more people, and a lot more Knights. I find it all dreadful, really, that so many people lost their lives in just under ten years, and now, almost eighteen years later, we are still limping towards a full recovery. I wish that my father could have found some other way to get control of the Gerudos, but he did what he thought was best. It's funny, though, because he agreed to the Gerudo's terms of surrender whole-heartedly, and one of those terms was that he would let Ganondorf remain King of the Gerudo, and that his life would be spared..."

"How could he have known about the other war that would lead to?" Link protested, seeing Zelda's demeanor drop. "No one knew. We stopped it, though, didn't we?"

"I suppose you're right, Link." Her eyes were cast down at her gloved hands that lay folded on the small table. "But I still can't help but feel like neither of those wars should have happened, if you know what I mean."

A moment of silence pervaded the sunlit chamber, and Link leaned back in his chair, realizing that he felt the same way. That was the past though, strange enough as it was to say, and only those that remembered it were to ever experience the pain it brought.

He knew then that if there was any time to ask, it was that particular moment. "Zelda," he began softly.

"Yes?"

"There's something I've wondered about for a very long time," he told her as they once again made eye contact, his piercing blue eyes against hers of a darker, more violet blue, "But I don't want your lady to think that either I'm crazy for asking such a thing, or that you're crazy for being able to answer, if you know what I mean..."

"If you're talking about something that happened in, well, that _other_ time, then you needn't worry. I've told Calandra a few things about it, and besides, didn't I explain to you that what is said in these rooms stays in these rooms?" she repeated to put him at ease, obviously curious as to what he was about to ask and looking a little...nervous?

"I...I just wanted to be sure," he affirmed, feeling rather nervous himself, hoping that he would get some kind of answer.

"You can be sure of it. What is it that you want to know, Link?"

He swallowed, wondering why this topic made the Triforce of Courage abandon him. "In all those seven years that I was sleeping, sealed away in the Sacred Realm...what happened to you?"

(PSYCHE! I WIN!)

Zelda sighed, looking both troubled and relieved. "I'm afraid that's a very long story, Link."

"Did you have anything important you wanted to tell me today, because, if that's so, you can tell me about it later, if you want, that is, but if not..."

"I didn't really have anything in mind, so I guess sooner is better than later, right?" she interrupted him, a strange look in her royal blue eyes.

Link was slightly dumbfounded. "Sure..." was all he could manage to say in reply.

"You remember that Ganon entered the Sacred Realm just after you did, and that he split the Triforce just after you were taken by the Master Sword, right?" Zelda started off slowly.

Link nodded.

"Well, by that time, Impa had taken me to Karkariko, where she hid me in the Shadow Temple so that Ganon couldn't find me, but neither of us knew what was going to happen that day. In fact, we waited for three days inside the Temple, just to be safe, and then Impa left to see what had happened. Word of Ganon hadn't reached Karkariko yet at that time, only that something strange was going on in the Castle Town, but the villagers didn't pay it much heed. I really don't blame them, since Karkariko was such a small town, and they had enough to worry about themselves."

"Impa rode off for Castle Town and promised to return by sunset, but she told me that if she did not return by midnight, that I should get someone to take me up Death Mountain so that I could ask the Great Fairy for her help. I waited for her all day, and I started getting scared when I saw no sign of her around sunset. She did arrive, though, as I'm sure you guessed, but she came late, as well as injured and stricken with terror. As I helped her dress her wounds, she told me that Ganondorf had become incredibly powerful. He had obliterated Hyrule Castle, and as we spoke, his army of monsters was tearing apart Castle Town, and the citizens that survived were fleeing to Karkariko."

"I knew then that my father was dead, and that Ganondorf had taken effectively taken over Hyrule, even before Impa had the chance to say it. I was so afraid..."

Zelda noticed Link's compassionate, earnest face twitch a little at the mention of her fear of Ganondorf. In his calming eyes, she could see a twinge of hatred flare up, a hatred that spanned centuries longer than either of them could imagine. 

"Impa told me then that Ganondorf had somehow done this without the aid of the Triforce, since, he had gotten his wish, his takeover would have been instantaneous, rather than a sudden swell of power that allowed him to destroy the castle and its city. Only then did I remember a legend I had read in one of my father's books only just about a year before. I told Impa about the legend that told of the Triforce's ability to split into three parts, and then my own Triforce mark started to glow...which, looking back on it, was almost funny, as if it was trying to confirm my belief like it was part of the conversation."

Link had known the Triforce to do that, on occasion...

"Once Impa understood that I held part of what Ganon was eventually going to be looking for in order to complete his goal of taking over Hyrule, and the world itself, she knew that I would have to go into a kind of hiding that would assure that he could never find me, at least, until he could be defeated. It would still be some time before we even knew what became of you, and I'll admit, I was afraid that you had fallen victim to Ganon as well..."

In a way, Link thought, he did. He couldn't help anyone, let alone Zelda, for all those seven years...

"Impa was unsure of what to do, but decided to gather all the remaining Sheikah together at the Shadow Temple to help her come up with a way to save me from Ganon before he finished with Castle Town and descended upon Karkariko, which we both knew was inevitable. Then, as they are now, Sheikah are in very short supply, as I told you when you first emerged from the Temple of Time. I lied about being the lone survivor, as I also lied about even being a Sheikah in the first place, but you know as well as I do that it was necessary..."

Link nodded slowly, recalling his memories of Sheik, who was about to be unmasked to him, and not as she had before.

"Anyway, the dozen or so Sheikah that gathered with their leader said that I should be disguised as someone Ganon would never suspect to be the Princess Zelda."

Of course, Link thought, who would suspect a Sheikah boy to be a Hylian Princess...not even the Hero of Time himself...

"I learned Impa was the Sage of Shadow then, and I had never known her to even have magical abilities until she created a masking spell for me. Ever since I could remember, I always had the aptitude for magic, and once Impa taught me the spell, the Triforce of Wisdom made it even stronger, and, well, from then on, I was called Sheik. Impa and I then went into to town, bought some more supplies and another horse, and rode around Hyrule for nearly a year, always staying one step ahead of Ganon and his minions."

"It was then that I learned all those songs I taught you, Link," Zelda recalled to him, the fingers of her right hand moving with an odd grace, mimicking the way they used to play upon harp strings in another time forgotten to all of Hyrule. "I even went into the Lost Woods, but no further than the bridge. I didn't need to risk going any further, because the Kokiri girl that was standing there told me things...and taught me the Minuet of the Forest...that is, when I mentioned your name, Link."

"Saria?!" was as much of a question as he could form. 

"Yes, the Sage of the Forest herself, even. She was sad to hear that I had no news of what had happened to you, and it was strange, because she could see right through my disguise. She wouldn't stop talking about you, though. You and her must have been very good friends, I take it?"

"Saria was...my only friend back in the forest..." Link admitted. 

"You'll have to tell me your whole story some time, Link," she requested, "But I suppose you'll want me to finish mine first..."

Link simply nodded, then added after a moment. "I can't believe you met Saria..."

"I knew all the Sages before you woke up, Link. I even encountered Nabooru once, but that's much later in the story."

Well, he thought, that would make sense enough...

"We went all over, though, really. Ganon didn't so much destruction that year, only enough to prove to people why he was now their ruling tyrant and that they all should fear him, rather than respect him. Most people just tried to go on with their daily lives, and then, when that year was over, Ganon started his armies on building that hideous tower of his where the castle used to be, and left Hyrule to much of its own devices. I ended up living with the Sheikah for a good deal of time after that, in and about their various hideouts in Karkariko. Impa taught me many things then, mostly how to defend myself and how to use the Sheikah magic she could teach me."

"However, all that changed about a year before you woke up. We had also been conducting research into the old legends during that time too, in order to see if we could find out more about what exactly had happened to Hyrule, and that one mystery Triforce that, again, we didn't know you held. One day, we stumbled upon an old scroll in a tomb that spoke of the Master Sword. It didn't say much, but it led me to believe that I should go and see what had happened to the legendary blade, if anything at all, just to see if I could get a clue or two about the grand scheme of things."

"Impa told me that it would be too dangerous to venture anywhere near the Evil King's Tower, but I knew that someone had to do it, and so long as I didn't alert any monsters to my presence, I would be fine. I felt bad about it, but one night, when Impa was asleep, I rode to the gates of Castle Town and ventured in, using my Sheikah magic to go undetected by the ReDeads that had claimed the city. I got to the Temple of Time pretty easily, and found that no evil had pervaded its walls, which I took as a good sign. I saw the Spiritual Stones on the altar and they still looked like they had just been put there only moments ago, even though I knew you had to have done it years before. Then I entered to room that was sealed off by the Door of Time and I saw that the Master Sword was gone."

Link suddenly felt too light. He had never wielded a finer blade in his life, and he had to admit that he missed the weight of the Master Sword on his back and in his hand. 

"Suddenly, I knew there was hope for Hyrule yet, and then the Sage of Light spoke to me from where he guarded your sleeping form in the Sacred Realm."

"He said, and I remember it clearly: 'You who are chosen to carry the Triforce of Wisdom, destined to be the Seventh Sage and leader of them all, your hope is not in vain. I am watching over the Hero of Time, who you are destined to guide and aid in the quest to restore your Kingdom and rid this world of the evil Ganon.'"

"Naturally, I was frightened at first, but Rauru explained himself and made everything clear to me. He didn't even have to tell me who the 'sleeping hero, too young for his Courage,' was. I knew it had to be you, Link."

He smiled, slightly bashful. What Zelda didn't know about the awkwardness he felt in his suddenly adult body when he first emerged wouldn't hurt her...Some hero he was at that time, who had to concentrate very hard to walk correctly, but could then instantly draw his sword with ease on what would become a friend. 

"When I returned from the Temple, Impa wasn't surprised to see that I had gone, but she was surprised to hear what I had to tell her. Rauru had told me that Ganon would grow tired of his limited rule very soon, and he would seek out the other Triforce parts in a vicious rage. While he had little hope of finding the two of us, he would end up causing chaos in Hyrule and even greater ruin. I had to avoid this, as well as keep the other Sages safe from it. Once it grew to a point where I could no longer help, I was to wait for your return in the Temple of Time and leave my fellow Sages to hold off Ganon long enough for you to save them."

Link then thought back on the darkened world he had entered into with those awkward steps. Everything had changed, but not just with time, rather, with evil as well. 

"Impa didn't like the idea, but she knew that we had to go along with it, simply because it was destiny. It was then that Ganon and his armies marched on Hyrule once again, but this time they demanded the whereabouts of the Princess. He didn't know about your Triforce either, only that it was somewhere out there. Once again, I evaded him, but this time on my own, since Impa had to stand and help defend Karkariko from any major damage. She also had to tell Ganon that I was dead, in order to discourage him a little. I mostly stayed behind him that time, though. I cleaned up the mess after he left, and that's when I saved Ruto from under the ice. I even ventured into Gerudo territory and managed to find the Spirit Temple. I tried to free Nabooru from the witches control when I saw that she was different from the rest of the Iron Knuckles, but I knew she was beyond my help."

"Ganon then proceeded to kill off all the Sheikah and force Impa into hiding. He threatened to do the same to the Gorons, who refused to forge weapons for his army of monsters and fiends. He knew to steer clear of the Lost Woods, but sent in plenty of his underlings to terrorize the poor Kokiri and force Saria into hiding as well. I couldn't help her either. It was then that I had no choice but to go to the Temple of Time, and pray that you would come soon. The rest, well, is your part of the story, I guess," she concluded.

"Just one more question, if I may, Zelda?" Link requested after he let it all sink in.

"What is it?"

"How long did you have to wait for me?" he asked, hoping that she didn't end up having to spend too much time in fear that he would never come to save them all.

"I waited for a week. It turns out that you were in the Sacred Realm for seven years and seven days exactly..." A pained expression was on her face, and she had given up any hope of looking him in the eye. He could see the guilt, the fear, and the pain she had suffered in all of that time, while he lay naive and sleeping dreamlessly, but safe. He was so sorry that she too couldn't have been given the gift of innocence that he had. There was no way to express it though, what he felt. A simple apology was inappropriate and understated. He was no simply sorry. It was so much more than that.

"I'll tell you what shouldn't have happened," Link said. "All of that should never have happened to you, and I guess, that in a way, it didn't, but so long as you have the memory of it, its all true and it was all real. Destiny sure didn't make it easy for you like it did for me, and I only wish that there was some way--"

"Link," she cut him off, now staring intently at him, focused and determined. "Weren't you just saying that what happened happened? We saved Hyrule, Link! There was no other way and I know that I am better for it, as are you. There is nothing to pity ourselves or one another over. We have to concentrate on what we achieved, rather than what he suffered. It is the right way to go about it, especially when we are the only ones that can remember it..."

Link looked down at his left hand, knowing what lay under the thick leather of the gauntlets. "You're right, but..." Link reached into the one pouch on his belt that never left his protection. "I think we still have a right to remember all that was sacrificed, and all who were sacrificed, even if we restored them." He pulled out the Kokiri's Emerald from where it was stored with the other two Spiritual Stones Link himself had removed from the altar when he close the Door of Time and sealed Ganon away for eternity. He laid in on the sunlit table, the light mingling with its perfect facets. "Farore created life, but all life comes from the forest, did you know that Zelda? Almost like a green light, parting the dark clouds...so long as there's life...there's hope. They taught me that in the forest, but I didn't know it until we defeated Ganon..."

And then, without the ceremony he had learned in the past few days, the dances of respect and etiquette, he got up and let himself out. He had given her all the respect he had, just to know that she had as much courage as he did and that she had fought just as hard. He left her all his admiration, all of his loyalty, and all of his love in the form of a stone from the forest, that lay in front of her shock-widened eyes, gleaming in the sun. It was the only stone that he really felt was his to give, and, not being completely sure as why, he gave it. . It was the only way he could say what he had to, but couldn't...

Link felt remorseful for what had happened to Zelda, but he was proud of what she had become.

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	9. Ninth

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

Link hadn't thought he'd long to go back to the cool, drafty library and sit with Sir Cortain while he read histories, but after toiling about with Banon in the sun, which was growing hotter as summer began to emerge, he would long to be in the Ice Caverns, if nothing else. He hadn't remembered Hyrule being this hot, but then again, back in those times, he had the shade of trees and temples to cool him, as well as the speed of his pursuit for justice and peace in his kingdom. Standing out in a bare courtyard and knocking about with heavy broadswords, he reasoned, was a lot different that than. 

However, one good thing about the heat was that Banon tired more rapidly than usual, and bade Link to leave early, so that he could wash the sweat of the day's training off of himself before dinner, but Link knew that he had plenty of time to get to the stables and still accomplish that.

Ah...dinner. He almost dreaded it. Link would have to face up to Zelda for his actions of that morning, and he had wondered all day if the Princess would be angry with him, or rather understanding, or even inquisitive.

He had reasoned with himself, in the midst of Banon's thrusts and parries, as well as the bald Knight's shouting at Link to keep his form, that he did have a reason for giving her the stone as he did. It wasn't completely clear to him, but he was beginning to understand his own mind and instincts at that point, on that morning. 

He had never given it to her anyway. The Great Deku Tree had said to give it to her, yet he kept it, and only showed her that he did indeed possess it. Had he given it to her...would she have thrown it back to him with the Ocarina of Time, or would she have kept it, and thus, prevented Ganon from entering the Sacred Realm. The possibilities, like streams from a great river, broke off into many points, and it was Link's own vice that he constantly found himself thinking of them. There were too many what ifs. He knew that he shouldn't dwell on them, but he always found himself doing so in the end, and Link hated that. 

But that wasn't just it. In the roar of emotion he felt, thinking on how Zelda had kept with her those seven years that he was bereft from Hyrule, and from protecting both the kingdom and it's heir, there was still much to sort out. A concoction of feelings set him off to do what he did, such as he'd never felt before. The Hero of Time had indeed gained his seven years that were due to him, but he still felt ignorant. It frustrated him as much as all the possibilities did. There was so much to know in the world...and so little he knew.

What was it, though, that had made him loosen the strings of the pouch, and speak of Farore as he did? Life...he reflected, walking towards the stables where Epona eagerly awaited his visit, life itself is so precious. Zelda remembers two lives as I do, but she has so much more of that one, but were those seven years she suffered through really worth all the life she had? Again with the possibilities. 

"What is done is done," he told himself out loud, with no one save the stones in the castle walls to hear him. There would be a better time to think of all that, and to put it all to rights in his mind. He'd always told himself that, though, all along. When would that time actually come, if it ever did?

Link looked up as he tried to clear his mind and his eyes were greeted with the vast inner courtyard of the castle, which housed all that couldn't be contained within the massive stone structure itself. The stables, along with storage sheds, a blacksmith's forge, pens for cattle and sheep, vegetable and herd gardens, as well as the ever present marching Hylian guardsmen all claimed that vast openness as their own. The swordsman could see a few of the stable boys, most he'd met, a few he hadn't, wrestling and chasing each other just outside the vast, yet homey stables. Link couldn't help but smile as he remembered his days as a Kokiri. 

"Hey boys," he greeted as he approached, and in doing so, commanded them to stop in their play, even though he hadn't meant to. "Have any of you seen Chasel around? The boy who cares for my horse? She's the big red mare."

After receiving a few confused looks, one boy, slightly older than most of the crowd, whose name Link had learned was Byron, shouted, "He's probably sleeping up in the loft. At least that's how he was after lunch a few hours ago."

"Thank you," Link said politely and left them to play again, wishing he didn't have to interrupt in the first place.

He entered the stables, which were always dark and cozy, smelling of fresh straw and horses. He knew where Epona's stall was, and where all her tack would be, but he still wanted to find Chasel, just to ask how his mare had been since he'd last visited. Sure enough, as soon as Link began to climb the stout ladder to the loft in the rear of the stable, he saw sleepy little Chasel startle from the straw, nearly rolling over the edge in doing so. 

"Oh! Sorry Master Link!" the drowsy boy immediately apologized, his voice scratchy and groggy from his nap. "I felt weary after lunch, because it was busy here this morning, so I just came up here to rest for a while but--"

"It's all right, Chasel," Link assured him and got out of the boy's way by going down the ladder again. "I just wanted to check up on Epona and see how she's been for the last few days."

Chasel, then hopping off the ladder, instantaneously perked up. "She's a great horse, sir. She really is," he began, leading the way to her stall. "All the other boys think she's crazy and wild because she won't let them use a lead on her, but I know they're wrong. She doesn't need a lead! You just kinda have to push on her shoulder to guide her, and she always follows. One of the prettiest mares in the stable too. I think she's even made Freya jealous!"

"Who does Freya belong to?" Link asked, relieved to here the boy's simple and eager talk. 

"Oh, that's the Princess' white mare. She fancies herself a princess too, but I don't take care of her. That's Byron's job."

Link nodded, though it went unseen to Chasel. If only he could spend more time here...instead of with all the lessons and formality.

"Here she is!" Chasel said both as a statement and a greeting. Epona, who had caught her master's scent long before, had her head out of the stall and accepted the stable boy's petting of her nose, though she awaited the carrots that she knew her master had hidden in his pouches. After enduring the boy, she nudged Link until he gave in and relinquished the vegetables, which were devoured almost as soon as they appeared.

He ran a hand through her mane then, when the food was all gone. "So she hasn't been giving you any trouble then?"

"Nope, none at all," Chasel confided.

"Well, I have a little time to take her out for a ride into the outer gardens," Link told his mare's caretaker, "And don't worry about her things and brushing her down. I'd rather do that myself, since I don't get to do that much these days."

Chasel nodded, looking slightly disheartened. 

"They other boys look like they've got a good game going outside, why don't you join them?" Link suggested thoughtfully as he opened the gate to the stall. 

"I...uh...I don't like their games," the little Hylian said hesitantly, with a look that one could clearly see a hidden emotion in.

"What do you mean? Are they unkind to you?" the hero asked, concerned as to why Chasel would say such a thing.

"It's not like they hurt me or anything, sir. They just don't like me playing with them, and they don't let me a lot of time, and when they do, they just tease me. Besides, they're games are dumb anyway, and they should be working instead." The last part was added almost as an afterthought.

"That's not very nice of them then, is it? What reason could they have to tease a good boy like you?" Link demanded as he soothed Epona, who was excited about what seemed to be the start of a good ride.

"I...I dunno. They're just stupid! That's all! Besides! It's their own faults that the stablemaster scolds them and doesn't scold me! They get all the important horses to take care of, but they never do it right, and I get all the scrubs and wild ones, but I do the work I'm supposed to!"

Link couldn't help but laugh a little. He recalled this same argument among the Kokiri children. He'd seen it dozens of times, in dozens of forms. Link recalled this one fight he had with Mido over why Saria always played with him, as opposed to the great Kokiri leader. 

_"She says you don't let her play what she wants the play when you are with her. Saria said you always make her play your games and talk about all the stuff you do and that's why she doesn't like you," a small voice from the past shouted across the forest._

_"Oh yeah, weakling? I say she's a big liar! At least there's gotta be something wrong with her, if she wants to hang around with a loser like you!" Mido countered, stinging young Link with his words, as always, and never offering any consideration_.

"Well, Chasel," Link attempted to advise the kindly little boy, a grin still showing on the swordsman's face, "I'm sure you've heard this before, but those boys say such cruel things to you because they're jealous of you. You are doing what's right, and you know this to be true, but take it from someone who knows this well; doing what's right is almost never very easy at all, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, does it?"

The boy nodded, taking a small amount of confidence from Link's words. 

"Why is it though, that they get to take care of all the important horses and disrespect their duties, while you're left with...the less predictable ones?" Link asked, slightly confused as to Chasel's situation.

"The stablemaster says I haven't proven myself yet, that I still need to show him that I can keep up my responsibility. I don't know what more I can do, though, and I wish he'd hurry up and kick those lazy oafs out of their jobs, because they don't deserve them at all!" the boy protested.

"Easy now..." Link said calmingly, almost as if he was talking to the horse he was grooming, rather than the boy who stood just outside the stall. "Wanting for revenge isn't the way to go about it, at least in matters like these. It's best, sometimes, to wait and see what comes to you. I'm sure, though, that you're sick of waiting."

Chasel nodded vigorously to this.

"Well, you said that you think Epona here is a very fine horse, and even if they all think she's wild and strange, you know better. I'm sure the stablemaster will notice, sooner or later, how well you take care of her, and how well you work with her. It takes skill in any horseman to learn a horse like I know you've learned Epona, and so quickly as well. Let your master see that, and I'm sure he'll recognize your talents."

"Master Rurick is away on a trip right now, buying some breeding stock from a neighboring kingdom, but I'll make sure he sees when he gets back!" Chasel sounded with new-found determination and self-confidence.

"There, you see, that's the right way to go about it. It's okay to be angry, but you shouldn't let it get to you if you can avoid it. There's better things to do with one's time than be angry, right Chasel?" Link inquired as he patted Epona and exited the stall to go find his tack. 

The boy nodded once again and Link ruffled his short brown hair in reply. 

"Best see that your horses are the fittest in the stable for when your master gets back..." Link suggested and bid Chasel on his way. 

The hero smiled a little smile to himself. He wished that someone would've taught him how to deal with things like that when he was just a little boy. His brief life as a Kokiri would've been a lot easier that way...

That in mind, Link saddled a now zealous Epona, who shifted about as he did so, ablaze with enthusiasm over the run she knew she was going to have. It was only going to be a short while, this her master knew, but he knew that she needed it. He sensed that she would have preferred to remain out in Hyrule Field and fend for herself, rather than stay cooped up in a stable with only a bag of oats and a few noisy boys for company. Link led her out into the sun when he was finished and stopped the wrestling boys in their game once again. 

"So you're the one who's got the crazy horse!" Byron shouted over the head of his much smaller opponent, who gave him one last, but ineffective push before ceasing. "Chasel says you hang around with the Old Knights, but he's just as crazy as your mare, and I think he's just lying."

"You shouldn't fear something you're unfamiliar with, you know," Link offered in response, coolly at best, as he mounted.

"Just who are you anyway, Mister?" another boy, small for his age with a nasal little voice asked.

"I'm Link, Squire of the House of Red Lions, son of Sir Dorian of Red Lions, but you can just call me Master Link. It's a lot shorter, don't you agree?" 

The boys the proceeded to gape at him, taking in the strong young man atop his rusty mare with a newfound respect, for both him and Chasel.

"I...I beg your pardon, Your Honor," Byron finally forced himself to say through his own shock and confusion. "I knew that you were taking up residence in the castle, but I didn't know--"

"Forget about it, boy," Link told him, now trying to sound a little warmer. "That sort of thing doesn't matter to me. I don't care for that whole 'manners' thing much myself, but I believe that it has some practical use. There's a boy hard at work in the stables right now, while you all are out here enjoying the day, and he doesn't have to be working all the time, even though he does his job very well. Why don't you let him join you for a day? You might be surprised how nice he is, as long as you're nice to him."

And with that, Link rode off, not even setting his heals to Epona in doing so. He knew he didn't need a response from them. Chasel, of course, would notice a change in their demeanor pretty soon, though. Link let himself laugh as his horses' hooves thudded against the thick wood of the lowered drawbridge, and out onto the dirt of the castle road. Another day for a hero...even if they kept him in a stone cage...

Epona was reluctant to stop when it was time for Link to go in and wash up. He untacked her and brushed her down himself, and he would've done it anyway, but at the time, Chasel was too busy playing with the other boys to offer his help. 

Link himself longed to ride some more as he began to climb up to his chamber again. He also noted that the castle was way too big, but that was beyond his help. He sighed as he opened the door to his room, realizing that he would have to come up with a coherent answer for Zelda when he would escort her to dinner and she would probably question him about his behavior earlier, but his dread was quickly replaced with wonder as he noted that a new set of clothes once again awaited him, laid out on his bed lovingly. 

"I shall have to find the tailor and thank him someday..." Link said to himself as he observed the new outfit, that was even done in his favorite color: green. It was obviously meant to be formal, with a great forest green coat that was much like his other one, but made of a lighter and obviously more expensive fabric. It was trimmed in gold, and even had the great pockets that Link found so convenient. To go with it was a lightweight shirt of an off white color that would be loose and coolingly so for the coming summer. The trousers were a lighter green, but also trimmed with gold. A pair of shiny black boots, much the same as the ones that Damen was so fond of, were also at the foot of the bed, awaiting their debut. Link then decided that the tailor had to be some spy as well, for there were black gauntlets set out to match the boots. 

All in all, he was very pleased, and happy to be back in green again. 

On cue of time, Vesta arrived just as he had finished trying on his new boots and brought with her water and the things she used to fix his unruly hair. As they did every evening, she let him wash and change, then helped him with whatever he needed. One quick look in the Mirror Shield and with a few moments to spare, Link bid her good evening and went off to the Knight's Den to meet with his friends, and probably a very confused Princess, at least on that evening...

He tried to think of explanations and excuses as he went through the stone warren his kingdom called a castle. None that came to mind were fitting, and Link could already picture himself looking foolish, stumbling over his own words, and then ending up saying some corny thing that didn't even make sense in the first place. It would have to do, unless, his mind took it upon itself to surprise him. 

He shouldered open the great carved door and was welcomed by the warm, yet still dim light of the great hearth once again. This time, however, instead of seeing silhouettes in front of the fire, he only saw one. Zelda stood, looking into the fire and not even giving his entrance a mere glance as she kept her stoic watch over the dancing flames. She looked both stunning and appropriate in her pale pink gown, Link noted, but he then realized that her beauty wasn't what he had to focus on, though it was hard for him not to.

Link shut the door, feeling the need to put a barrier between them and the rest of the castle.

"I told the Knights to go ahead tonight," she told him simply once he had closed them off.

"I see," Link said, then paused for a moment, but figured it was now or never. "Look, Zelda I--"

A strange play of light caught his eye as the Princess interrupted him. Resting in the palm of her hand was the Kokiri's Emerald. "You spoke of Farore this morning to me," she began. "You spoke of life and hope with an understanding I didn't knew that you had, or that I had, for any measure. You and I, Link," her voice grew warmer as she turned to face him, "We share a strange destiny, one that requires more understanding from us than I ever thought we had to give. However, we have survived it thus far, and there's still hope then, right?" Zelda's smile beamed.

Needless to say...it wasn't what Link had expected her to say...

He could only nod. 

"This stone you...gave to me, it's the Korkiri's Emerald, right? The Spiritual Stone of the Forest, the gem that represents life, and the one I dreamt about you having. I know that it means a lot of the old times, besides all of its power, but...Link, may I ask why you gave it to me?" 

Now that...he was wondering if she was going to get to that...

"Well...that day...I was supposed to give it to you. I never did, though. I kept it as I went searching for the other two...and then I went to the Temple of Time and used it, and the others, to try and protect the Triforce and...you know the rest. Maybe if...well..." Link paused, trying to gather his racing thoughts, trying to grab onto one that fit, and trying to spot the insane pounding of his own heart. 

"You said it yourself," Link continued, "That it represents life, and rebirth and that sort of thing. You and I, well, we could say that we've lived twice, really, but this life is different. You have a new life, fighting for Hyrule in a new way, as do I, and...Remember when I first came here...when...Courage and Wisdom are forever linked in their battles, while Power is left alone. You and I, Zelda, are always some how in one another's lives, and that's destiny for us. The stone, though, doesn't have to represent just life and rebirth, in fact, it can represent whatever its possessor wishes. Maybe, one day you can tell me what it means to you, but..."

"...When I gave it to you, I realized, that, for me, it represented how my life was intertwined with yours...and all the people of Hyrule, but you most of all. Without the Princess of Destiny, there can be no Hero of Time. Without Courage, there is no Wisdom...and because now you have the stone, and you are who you are, it binds me to you, because I've always been your servant. I...I wish that there was no one else I had to bow to but you, Zelda."

As contorted and strained as the words came, they were of the young hero's heart, and it was because of this that he had so much trouble saying them. There was, of course, something deeper within his heart that he could not yet define, but there would be a time for that, and a place. He then got on his knee, both to emphasize his strangled point and to relieve the sudden weariness he felt, yet that was accompanied with relief as well...

"Link...I...I don't know what to say," Zelda confessed as he looked up to see tears standing in her royal blue eyes. "I always knew that you would follow me if you saw fit, but I never thought..."

She walked up to him, clutching the stone to her chest with one hand, and stretching out another towards him. She gently placed a hand on his cheek, as he looked up, completely awed with her, from where he still knelt before his one and only Princess. 

"You and I," she told him, "You and I have a very strange destiny, Link, but I feel, that as long as we're in it together, that things will turn out all right in the end. I have hope for Hyrule...so long as you still live. I need you, Hero of Time. I've always needed you..."

Her tears fell then, but they were also tears of relief, and knowing that she had said what was in her heart. There were parts of that heart she had yet to discover, and in all of her busy days, had never known of, but they wouldn't lay untouched for long.

Link rose...to wipe away her happy tears. Her fair, soft skin was warm underneath his callused fingers, and Link only wished that his heart would stop threatening to burst. There was so much there, when they touched, so much beyond magic and destiny, but...all in time. All in time...it was a phrase Link understood like no other person in Hyrule, save, maybe one...

"We...we should go soon," Zelda finally said as the two stood very close, but doing nothing except looking into one another's eyes.

"Yes...Let's go, Milady." He offered her his arm, but no longer in the same playful way he always did. It was different now.

Yes...All in time...

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	10. Tenth

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

Double digits now? Holy shit...

Link had gotten to know the look he got from the Emperor Terinae very well. Each night, when he handed Zelda off to the high table and went off to his lower seat with a bow, the armored Emperor's eyes met his. With each evening, the contempt and anxiousness in those eyes of his grew. Zelda took a bit of pride in this, at first, upon seeing her ploy confuse Terinae, but on that night, only after Link had been at Hyrule Castle for seven days, did it no longer seem a ploy.

What was going on was no game between the elite, but rather, a reality imposed by destiny. Each evening was something fated, and each look grew with contempt in a way foreseen by the Goddesses themselves. 

Link was once again on a quest.

"I bid you good evening then, Your Highness, Milady," Link said as he looked away from Terinae's gaze and left them to sit with the Old Knights.

Even if it was a quest, though, Link still felt the imprisoning effects of the castle. He almost wished that he could let his own luck choose what he ate for dinner, as opposed to the head cook. A snare could catch anything from a rabbit to a mouse, and a fishing line could snap upon a minnow's fighting if need be, but he was fed here, like a stabled horse. Not that he minded the food, but rather, he minded his own pride.

However, he had learned to pass the time he spent at dinner quickly. It was no use for him to linger over his cup and the songs of the bawdy minstrels that the nobles loved so. He had other matters to attend to, and Zelda often found a need to excuse herself to bed as soon as she could. Link didn't mind. He'd rather walk the empty halls with her than sit and drink any day. He only regretted that the Knights would be waiting for him, and that he could not keep them waiting long. Every moment spent with Zelda offered him up another bit of enchantment, another piece of the puzzle, and more of his heart went to her. 

And as the food was cleared away, Link already knew to watch for her, to see if she would look in his direction and take the cue come to her side once again. Each evening, the Emperor tried to make Zelda stay, or tried to beat Link to the chase, but it was only the Princess that kept it going, and had made her and Link's leaving a pattern that was set in stone. 

He looked up at the dais, and his eyes were quickly met by her captivating violet blue eyes. Link excused himself from the Knights and the lesser nobles and strode off to his Princess once again, and to face the scrutiny of the Emperor Terinae. 

"...And so I'm afraid that I must seek my chambers now, Lord Emperor," she was saying as Link approached, ready to lead her away.

"Ah," Terinae locked eye with Link for a moment, then continued, "And I suppose that your friend the Squire will insist on taking you away from another fine evening, then?"

The Emperor was rather coy that night. Link could tell, in many ways, that he had perhaps taken too much of a liking to the wine. For some reason, it only gave him greater haste to pull Zelda away from the high table. "'Tis what Milady seems to keep me around for, Highness," Link said with a short bow to the both of them, trying to play off the Emperor's blunt edge. 

Zelda snickered, which she muffled with a gloved hand. The Emperor, however, did not seem so pleased.

"I regret, Master Squire, that I have so little time in which to meet the various guests of the castle, for you must be a charming lad to have gained yourself so much favor in such a short stay, thus far," the Emperor surmised, his voice full of sarcasm. 

Before Link could say another thing and possibly set off the tipsy usurper, Zelda stepped in, her quiet laugh immediately replaced with seriousness. "I do believe that it is past time for me to bid you all goodnight, Lords and Ladies," she addressed the entire table, "So I must bid you farewell in short order. Goodnight, friends."

With that, she was on Link's arm, and heading out the doors. 

In the dim light of the torch-lit halls, empty of prying ears and eyes as they were in that time of evening, Zelda said, "I want to show you something tonight."

Link, slightly mystified, reminded her, "The Knights will be waiting for me in the Den pretty soon..."

"They can wait a little longer, can't they? I shant keep you long, but I don't wish to go by myself," she told him, making her light grip on his arm a little more noticeable.

"All right," Link agreed, feeling in no position or want to disagree.

Again, he was greeted with a familiar mischievous grin from his Princess. "Good! C'mon, the tower's this way." She took his hand and led the way with a quick step, a strange joy sparkling in her lilac blossom eyes.

Link let himself be pulled through the darker halls of the castle, and soon found that he and Zelda were laughing as they went, caught, it seemed, in some strange fit of unexplainable merriment. Neither seemed to care much, though, as they continued. Maybe, Link thought, but then stopped himself from finishing the notion. It wasn't a time for thinking, just for feeling how good it was to laugh with her and feel her hand in his.

"Just a little further," she told him, short of breath, still leading on.

Zelda shouldered open a door with surprising gusto in what seemed to be a nearly abandoned part of Hyrule Castle. The wall scones went, for the most part, unlit, or with little fire in them, and there were no strange tapestries, or other such works of art, decorating the simple gray stone. Only cobwebs offered that service. They winded up a narrow flight of spiraling stairs, nearly tumbling down them many times for the lack of good light, but laughing as they steadied themselves.

Another door was laid wide open by the Princess, flooding the two of them with the silver light of the moon once again. It hung as a perfect half in the sky, bathing all of Hyrule in its nighttime glow, or at least all that could be seen from the high tower top on which the Princess of Destiny and the Hero of Time now stood. The view was amazing, and Link soon realized why it was so hard to get up to where they were. He stood with Zelda on the top of the highest tower in all of Hyrule Castle, looking out on the kingdom below them and seeing all. Wind swept his hair all around his eyes, but he could care less, just because the idea of the view was better than the view itself.

"Wow..." he conceded to the young woman who'd brought him there.

Zelda had broken away from him and strode over to the side of the tower top that faced the wind, her once perfectly styled golden hair now blowing out of its pins and curls behind her. "This is my second favorite place in the castle," she remarked, closing her eyes and relishing in the feel of the cool winds upon her face. "And as much as I love my little part of the garden, I find this tower top growing on me every time I come here."

"You can see everything from here!" Link exclaimed, looking out onto Hyrule from above, feeling like some kind of bird. "Even the forest! Those lights must be Kakariko! And look at Lake Hylia!"

Zelda opened her eyes and took it in, as she had for years. "Yes, strange that I have to come up here to realize how big this kingdom is, and yet to see it so small...I'm glad you like it, though, Link."

Link still remained fascinated with the sights, but Zelda only stood watching him, the way his long coat wrapped around his knees, and how his flaxen hair flowed around his face, almost like they were underwater. A thought came to her mind, as she looked at her hero, clad once again in his proper green.

"I have always wondered about that name of yours," she began, her gaze still fixed on him, even as he met it. "Tell me how it came that you were called Link..."

This time, another weight that the hero always had with him became more apparent. The ocarina in his pocket and the mark on his hand were silent, but his neck began to itch as it suddenly recognized the feel of gold against bare skin. "The Kokiri gave it to me, but I never knew how until after I found out I wasn't even one of them..."

"But why 'Link'?" 

"Well, this is what Saria told me, so I believe it's true," he started, recalling the many questions he asked of his best friend when she became the Forest Sage. "She said that the Great Deku Tree called all the Kokiri to him one day, and that he had a strange bundle of blankets sitting at his roots. The kids were confused when he told them to take care of it, and some were even afraid to go near the strange new thing, but Saria and the twins, or at least she told me, came up first, and found me in there, but I was just a baby, they said."

"They were even more baffled, because there are no babies in the forest. Kokiri's are created by the Great Deku Tree as they are and as they always will be. Sure enough, they need to be taught how to fend for themselves, but they have the basic skills of life and appear to be already eight or even ten years old. So the Great Deku Tree told them that I was a special Kokiri, and he told them all he knew about creatures like us that grow and age, except, of course, he didn't tell them that I would ever grow up, only that one day I would be just like the rest of them."

"The kids all gathered around me then, Saria said, because they were curious. One of the twins found a gold chain around my neck, and was captivated by it. Kokiri's also have no knowledge of metal-working, as well as so many other things. Saria said that after a while, she found the clasp and took it off me, exclaiming to her sister at the top of her lungs, 'This link is different from the rest!' The other twin then said, 'Like the little boy is different from the rest of us!' All the sudden, it got quiet in the clearing then, and the Great Deku Tree told them that Link should be my name, and that they should make sure that I never lost that chain, for it was destined by the Goddesses that I keep it. They made sure all right..." Link said, pulling the simple golden necklace over his head and holding it out for her to see.

"Now that I know what I do about who I am," he concluded, "I still keep it because it must have been my mother's. She took me to the forest in the Great War and entrusted me to the Great Deku Tree before she died, but I know nothing else..."

All Zelda could do was look at the chain that dangled from his fingers. There must have been thousands of other gold chains like it in the world, and it had no unique feature to it, other than it was the hero's namesake. A chain that bound him to Hylian heritage, mortality, and his own fate. A simple golden chain, the same as any woman in the world had, except, it had once belonged to a woman neither of them knew, but still meant more than words could express. 

He put the chain back on, almost afraid to let it leave his body for long. "I don't know why he told them to make me keep it with me, and I know it's a sorry excuse for a heritage and a name, but it's what I have."

"I think it's much better than any name we can make up for you, and greater than any family we can give you," Zelda told him honestly, still amazed by his story. 

"I just wish that I had a better record than a few talking trees and a piece of metal, that's all..." he let out after a sigh of frustration.

"There's no name more fitting for you than Link. A hero must be linked to everything in a way. He must be linked to his enemies, in order to defeat them. He has to be linked to that which he is saving...and...you said it yourself, that you and I are linked. It suits you. It really does," she assured him, taking a few steps closer, but stopping short of him.

He looked at her remorsefully, but seemed to shrug it off after only a short moment. Zelda could tell, though, that there was a great frustration in his eyes. After all, she knew that she would feel the same way, if she didn't know where she came from. Unfortunately, that was all too obvious to her...

"But why do they call you Zelda, Princess? I'm sure it's a better story than mine..." he conceded, still trying to brush off his own feelings.

"It is a common name among the royal women of Hyrule, nothing more. There have been dozens of Zeldas before me, and if we can keep Hyrule free from Terinae's clutches, I should hope there will be many after," she told him, dryly at first, but sparking up at the mention of the Emperor's downfall. 

"There will be," Link said simply, turning to look over all of the sleeping kingdom once again, however, his stature was much more subdued this time.

Zelda couldn't help but notice where his gaze always fell, and where his words had fallen throughout that day. It only seemed appropriate, that her green-clad hero should be looking out into the distant expanse of the Lost Woods.

"Link," she began, "Have you visited your friends in the forest at all, since you left Hyrule all that time ago?"

He just shook his head, his lack of a good reason for not seeing them again providing him with silence.

"You know, if there's ever an opportunity, say, if the Knights are away for a few days, you should go. I'm sure they've been wondering about you..." Zelda prompted him, moving to his side and leaning on the thick battlements. 

"They won't even know who I am..." he responded, his gaze still fixed on the moon-lit forest.

"Saria will."

Bewildered, Link turned to face Zelda, wondering how that could be possible. "What do you mean?"

"All the Sages remember, Link. They were just as crucial to Ganon's defeat as you and I were, and they need to remember that they are indeed Sages in order to fulfill their duty of holding the Evil King away in the Evil Realm," she reported matter-of-factly.

He looked back out over Hyrule then, finding that it made sense enough for them to remember as well. He folded his arms and leaned them on the battlements. "So then what happened to all of them? What are they doing now?"

"Well," Zelda started, trying to recall the latest of her encounters with each of her fellow Sages, "For starters, last I talked to Saria, she told me she was worried about you, but that the Kokiri were doing well, as usual."

A little smile crept onto Link's face, and she couldn't help but join in.

"Darunia still named his son after you, and I hear that Link is growing up to be a very strong and hearty little Goron. Ruto actually came to my father's funeral and sent her respects from the Zora people, but I haven't heard much else from her. Naburoo continues on as the leader of the Gerudo, though she spends more time at the fortress than she does the Goddess of the Sand now. Impa...Impa left for Kakariko when Terinae decided that was where he would station his legions. She wanted to provide the Hylians, and the few Sheikah that still live there, with good leadership in their time of...compromise, shall we say. I regret, though, that she can't be here as well, because I do miss her, a lot..."

Link sighed, trying not to dwell on the idea of the changes brought about in his absence. "It's good to hear that they are all doing pretty well then."

They stood, resting on the battlements of the high tower in silence once again, their former joy torn at the hands of the fate they'd been dealt. It wasn't a time for merriment when it was a question whether or not Hyrule's royalty was to continue on, or whether the Sages that had saved the kingdom along with the Hero of Time were indeed well. 

The two of them passed the time there, as they had been doing normally enough for seven long years, and thought on how complicated life had become for them. They were no longer the children who were handed a destiny and accepted with open arms. Now, indeed, they were the youths that only just now had come to understand the burden that came with power, or wisdom, or courage, in fact. 

They thought so that they did not notice their gravitation toward one another. A shared fate, maybe. A shared memory, of course. A shared devotion...well...perhaps. 

When the green fabric of his coat sleeve brushed against the thin, pale fabric of her dress, they were brought back to the present reality. 

"I...I'm no Sage of Wisdom," Link started out, quickly putting more space between them, "But I know enough to say that I should be getting to the Den more sooner than later..."

"Yes, that's true," Zelda acknowledge, suddenly finding the stones at her feet quite fascinating. "We should come up here again some time, Link."

"Yes, yes we should." He tried to catch her eyes again, feeling awkward as he did. "Goodnight, Zelda," he said when he realized that he wouldn't be able to unless he did something else. He quickly to one of her hands in his and bowed with it as he had seen the other gentlemen of the court do with some of the ladies. 

He left though, with her own goodbye calling after him. A ringing sensation had filled his pointed ears, and the back of his hand felt warm through the gauntlet. He didn't have to look down at it to know that his Triforce mark was glowing. He smothered it with his right hand as discreetly as he could, and then cursed himself...

...Link had to remember not to touch her right hand like that...

By the time he'd found his way back to the Den, the resonating Triforce had settled down enough for him to act normally and he continued on with the story of his adventures in Termina that he had been telling the Old Knights for the last few evenings he spent in their company. Only Wrasten had posed the question as to why he had taken so long, but Link managed to avoid answering him somehow. He could see, though, that there was something in his tardiness that Wrasten just didn't approve of in the least. 

He was grateful to return to the solitude of his room that night, having been too overwhelmed by his own realization at his connection to other people that day. The Sages, Zelda, and everyone in Hyrule...was he really responsible for them all, for their safety and sovereignty? This Hero of Time business, he thought, was in need of some sort of outline of expectations. Link had only wished that he had known all that was to come when he first took the Master Sword from its resting place...

Sighing demurely, and feeling utterly spent of his emotions, Link pulled out the Ocarina of Time from one of the big pockets of his green coat, then discarded the heavy garment unceremoniously over a bed post. 

A little tune came to mind, not exactly very soothing for his weariness, but rather, light and uplifting. Link wondered if the notes of Saria's Song still held their power, but he also wondered why he hadn't bothered to play them in so long...

Maybe it was because he had stopped searching, after a few years...

He had stopped looking for her, simply because he wasn't really deserving of her companionship. Surely, a Kokiri needed a fairy partner to get along and explore the boundless verdant forest safely, but a growing, aging, dying Hylian...

No...Navi was better off where she was, doing whatever is was that she did these days. Surely, she had some greater purpose to her life than to be the Hero of Time's winged sidekick...

They were better off parted, and he was better off remaining the Boy Without a Fairy.

No response came to the soft notes from his Ocarina, but something inside himself had told Link long ago that there wouldn't be. He wasn't sure if she heard his call and ignored it, or if she even heard him at all.

All Link knew was that he suddenly missed his days of innocence in the forest more than ever, and that he began to feel a familiar loneliness building up inside his heart. Here, amongst all the sleeping who's who of Hyrule, stood the greatest Link in the chain that bound all the people of the world together, yet somehow, he still managed to feel alone. 

The hero undressed in the slow, ambling manor of the very wearied and fell asleep only moments after his tousled blonde hair touched the clean linens covering his pillow.

He wished, though, just before he closed his eyes, that he was still with Zelda.

That way, he wouldn't feel so alone...

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	11. Eleventh

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

Okay, I promise to lay off on the not so subtle, yet subtle ZeLink for a bit here, but I can't promise much else. Also, a little more will actually happen here too, and don't worry, more of the actual hard-core plot is coming along as well. Please, don't hesitate to tell me what you think of my writing, or even of the plot. I'm open to suggestion on both aspects, and any others you can think of. Of course, I already know how this is going to end, but if you want to throw me an idea for some filler, I'd be happy to receive it.

It was even whispered among the servants of the castle that the Princess Zelda had a magical foresight, but Link knew that no magic had been used, nor any visions seen in any dreams, when she hinted about the Knights being away for a few days. 

Only three days after the night they had looked out over Hyrule from the tower top, Link was up at an obscenely early hour, saddling Epona for a short journey. However, this little half-a-day's ride to the other end of the kingdom meant a lot more than just a jaunt out of the castle. After all, Link concluded, he had only been there ten days. He was completely unsure as to why he felt it had been so much longer. 

In fact, it was the morning after that emotionally exhausting evening that Damen had found him in the hall of the north wing, just after he had risen and readied for the day. The Old Knight told Link that he and Sir Banon would be leaving on diplomatic concerns to Calatia, and that the Princess had informed him that Link was to be excused from his duties with the other two Knights so that he could attend to "personal matters" elsewhere in Hyrule for the three days that his other teachers would be absent.

With Zelda, Link had come to learn, nothing was meant to be a suggestion, but rather, a strange form of an order, which was not at all imposing in any way. 

He was glad to accept the offer to go to the forest, though. She had made him realize how much he longed for the shade of its immense trees, the faint glow of the golden forest fairies that were scattered all about the clearings, and, of course, the amiable company of his oldest friend, Saria. It had been sad for him to hear the notes of her song echo with no response. 

Maybe...maybe she just didn't hear...

Whatever the case, Link had immediately started the journey in his mind two days prior to his actual leaving. Banon even managed to smack him upside the head a few too many times with a stave as they practiced, due to this distraction.

"Either you've got heat stroke, lad," Link hazily remembered the rotund man saying as he handed the resting hero a large mug full of cold water, "Or you've a girl on your mind."

It was neither, but he didn't bother to explain. He simply let out a weak laugh and took the proffered relief for his beaten and overheated state. 

The thought of the Lost Woods had once brought pain upon him. In Termina, as an eleven-year-old boy, he had tried to forget about his childhood there, about the lies and bullying he'd suffered by his own uncertain heritage. When he wandered out of that strange reality, though, he had changed his mind. True enough, he had been lied to, picked on, and used by its inhabitants, but mostly to preserve his own safety. What they did for him, without even knowing, was better than what any dead Hylian parent could have. The Kokiri, he had realized while wandering from land to land, had been the closest thing to family he'd ever had. Family, as he grew to know, was very important to not only Hylians, or nobles, but to everyone that had it. 

He couldn't make himself forget about the fairy children that had raised him, and had sheltered him, most of the time willingly, in their own peculiar way. 

When the last evening came before his departure, Link could barely contain himself for dinner. The Emperor had asked him, as was expected, about the nature of his short trip, and Link, in turn, had simply repeated the reply concocted for him. After all, the Knights, as well as Zelda, knew the true reason for his journey and about his connection to the Kokiri. 

"Lord Emperor," he had stated as Zelda seated herself and left him to go to his lower seat, "I will be visiting old friends of my mother's family that own a farm outside of the Lost Woods. They have heard of my arrival in Hyrule, and I wish to take time to visit them when it is convenient for the Knights, so as not to hinder my training in their order." 

Link had repeated it verbatim, and the Emperor just took it in with a nod, and what seemed like the faintest of smiles. 

Maybe Link had just imagined it, but he could swear that little upturn of the Emperor's lips was a show of his being glad that Link would be out of his face for three days, so that he may spend more time with Zelda, as opposed to the lowly Squire.

It became very clear to Link, then, that he should ask the Princess more about Terinae when he returned. Something about leaving the castle with only the Emperor and her, with himself and the two most able Knights away, unnerved Link, but not to the point where he paid too much attention.

He'd found himself lately saying over and over again in his mind, "Terinae is not Ganon..." 

He didn't like this new kind of enemy he found in the usurper, but one can only choose one's friends, not one's foes. Link wondered where he'd got that one from, but, over the course of his travels, he'd gained many little tidbits of advice like that. He surmised, one day, when he was old and Hyrule was at peace, that he should write them all down...

His mind continued to wander into the night, after he'd bid Zelda goodnight at her door, this time making sure to take her hand, but her left in his right. He knew that every time they touched, even accidentally, that the Triforce pieces rang a little, but so long as their marked hands kept their distance from one another, they could avoid the full force of the resonating relics. His mind, however, refused to stay in one place that night, and even Zelda, who had been at the very center of his thoughts even before he'd come back to Hyrule, refused to stay the chaos in his overly-excited brain. 

It was a wonder he even fell asleep that night. The last thing he could remember thinking about was all them games he used to play when he was little. He thought about how he could win so easily at them all now. He thought...he thought he should give them all piggy back rides...

Sleep didn't claim the young hero for long, though. He was up before the sun, his saddle bags already packed with all he'd need. Link felt almost giddy as he slung them over his shoulder and locked up his room with the key he'd just recently been given. He'd gotten to the stable before the boys were even awake. He'd told his little maid Vesta not to bother to come to his chamber that morning, since he knew he'd already be gone. Zelda he had said goodbye to the night before, as well as the Old Knights when they sat around the fire in the Den. For ten days of confinement, three days of freedom and re-living the good old days seemed like heaven. 

Of course, it was more than just ten days. It was seven long years, and before that, another reality of seven years, but it was all worth it. Maybe now he could tell Mido. Maybe now he could pick that little sucker up by the back of his little tunic and ask him if he knew who his captor was. 

After all, Link hadn't changed back into his old Kokiri green for nothing. He wanted to be somewhat recognizable for them, even if only Saria would have the concept of a changed Link in her mind. The others knew nothing of growing and aging people that inhabited the forbidden world beyond their forest. They expected him to return, if they even expected that much, looking the same as he had seven years ago. 

There were other things, though, that Link had prepared, besides his clothing. He planned to return Saria's Fairy Ocarina to her. To Mido, he would give his old Kokiri Sword, barely more than a long dagger to him now. To the rest of them, well, he had many little trinkets in his possession that would thrill any sheltered forest child. Seashells from the islands, little bottles of gold dust from Termina, everyday silly masks, and even seeds from the Royal Deku's garden were among his gifts. He envisioned a happy homecoming, one which he didn't envision himself leaving.

The Kokiri would be amazed to see what little Link, the strange fairyless one that grew and changed with time, had become...

Link hadn't seen them all since before he'd opened the Door of Time. Once he'd closed it, he'd gone straight to Zelda, then to the Lon Lon Ranch to buy Epona, and then he'd just made his way out of Hyrule. 

He had never really wanted to go back to the forest...until he had grown up to realize how good it had been to him.

He and his mare were a lot bigger, though, when compared with that day he'd left the boundaries of Hyrule, but at heart, he still felt like a child, or at least wanted to. He needed a dose of all the good the world had to offer, before he plunged headlong into another battle against evil.

Link mounted up on a half-tacked Epona. Since no one would see him leave, and he would probably arrive late in the evening upon his return, he hadn't bothered with all the extra equipment that was simply for show, in order to make them seem like any other horse and rider. He wouldn't run into anyone that would have to know why he rode with almost nothing more than a saddle and all the junk he could fit into its bags. Epona, though, was glad to get out of castle grounds, which she showed with great enthusiasm, nickering as she cantered down the streets of Castle Town, waking everyone up as she did. Link didn't mind, seeing as he was even more enthused than his horse at the moment...

The sun rose brilliantly over Hyrule Field as horse and hero trotted towards the endless Lost Woods. Few Hylians could have such a beaming smile on their face when they approached that green expanse, in fact, for all Link knew, he was probably the only one, and at that point, he was Kokiri at heart. 

A dread crept into his heart, though, as he stared down the great tunnel of trees that marked the entrance to his childhood home. What if something had happened to all the Kokiri? What if they shunned him once again when they found out that this big Hylian was their Link? What if Saria hadn't answered because she was angry with him?

He shook it all out of his head and dismounted his mare. If any of that was the case, he could make it right again. He could. 

He sent Epona to spend her three days off running and grazing in the vast Hyrule Field, then strode into the tunnel and onto the bridge.

He had to go home, if only just for a little while...

As his eyes adjusted to the faint, soft light of the forest, he walked on and let the other end of the tunnel into the village appear to him. He remembered these woods. Link was the only Hylian never doomed to be lost. 

Countless fairies were still floating about everywhere. The light they gave off in tiny golden balls offered a surreal glow to the forest, and Link's ears could just barely pick up their laughter. These little yellow fairies had no voice, like their larger pink cousins, but they were often laughing, especially when a Hylian wandered into their woods. He took one deep breath before crossing the threshold into the village where he had lived for the first ten years of his life. All seemed well, and peaceful. He found himself sighing with relief that a Deku Baba hadn't attacked him upon his entrance.

"Hey Mister! How'd you get in here? Don't you know these are the Lost Woods? This ain't no place for your kind, Mr. Tall Guy!" 

The familiar voice of the boy who guarded the gateway to the village startled Link out of his contentment. "Oh! Heh...Don't worry, I kind of know my way around, you could say," he told the boy, marveling, even though he knew it would be so, at how he looked exactly the same as he did the day he had told Link he would die if he ever left the woods.

"They all say that!" the boy protested pushing a few shaggy blonde locks out of his eyes. 

"I guess they would," Link conceded, then asked, "Listen, can you tell me where Saria is...or Mido?"

"Wait a second! How do you know their names? Who are you, Mister?" the Kokiri demanded.

"Torin," Link called the boy by name, finding it sounded odd in a man's voice, "I'll tell you, all of you, in just a little while, but I need to talk to them first, okay?"

"You...but...you...S-saria's probably...in her house...uh right now. I don't know where Mido is...uh..."

"Thanks," Link said and then jogged off, not wanting to give himself away completely. 

He saw a few of the girls giggled at him as he ran by, probably thinking he was just another stupid Hylian out to get himself turned into a Stalfos. Won't they be surprised, Link thought, grinning as he ducked to enter the house of his only real friend. The bright interior of the great hollowed out tree was a welcomed sight to him, especially because Saria was sitting at her table, reading one of the few books that the Kokiri owned. They could all read, courtesy of the Hylians that left behind packs full of the written word after they had become monsters. 

She didn't turn upon hearing him come in, but asked, "Who's there?" in her little bell-like voice, her eyes still on the page she was reading.

"It's been a very long time, and for that, I'm really sorry," Link began, hoping she would recognize his voice simply because of the absurdity of it being deep, "Friends don't visit friends only once every seven years..."

She quickly turned to face him, even before he had finished speaking. She looked both shocked and overjoyed, her blue eyes wide as she took in an image of him that only she remembered. "Link!" she exclaimed with pure delight and rose from her little stool.

He got down on one knee so that he could hug his childhood companion, and the closest thing he'd ever really had to a mother. The Kokiri had all raised him, true enough, but it was Saria whom with he stayed until he was big enough to have his own house, and Saria who taught him all that a proper Kokiri needed to know. She embraced him tightly, her little fists clutching handfuls of his green tunic. 

"I can't believe you came back!" she cried as she let go. Link could see her eyes just barely brimming with tears of joy.

"Actually, Saria, I only came to visit you and the others for a little while. You see...it's a very long story, but I'm actually helping Princess Zelda again, and they'll need me back at Hyrule Castle in a few days, but until then, I want to enjoy the forest and the Kokiri again."

"Then you are the man she said had come to Hyrule to help her defeat that Emperor Terinae?" Saria queried.

Link was surprised she knew all of that. "Wait, how do you know all this?"

Saria laughed her little laugh. Link had forgotten how similar it was to a fairy's. "You silly hero," she admonished, "Zelda is the leader of all the Sages. She can speak to us at any time, except, she uses telepathy so that she speaks to us in our minds. It has to be you, though! You're the Hero of Time!"

"Now I don't know--"

Link was interrupted by a little high-pitched voice, one belonging to Saria's fairy. "What's going here? Who is this guy?" it demanded. 

"Tali, this is Link! You remember Link, right?" Saria introduced him.

"No, no! That can't be him! Link isn't one of those big people!" the fairy objected.

"Oh but he is, Tali! He's always been."

"News to me! Humph!" the little blue-ish light informed them haughtily, then flew off to her hiding place under the bed once again.

"I see that things haven't changed much around here..." Link said, remembering Saria's attitude-laden fairy from years past.

"Time, you should know, isn't the same here in the Lost Woods as it is in the rest of the world. But Link, can I ask you something?" she pondered.

"Sure thing."

"Are you planning on telling everyone who you are and explaining everything?"

Link couldn't help but note that her voice brought the reality of just how hard that would be upon him. However, it did not change his answer. "Yes, Saria. They should know, but I wanted to tell a certain person about it first..."

"Mido, right?" Saria ventured to guess, her little face looking serious.

"That's the one."

"I knew you would say that," she told him, brightening up again, "But before we go find him, you have to answer a few of _my_ questions!"

Though eager to tell Mido who and what he was, Link gladly answered all she bombarded him with. Saria tried to keep it general enough so that he didn't have to tell her the entire story, but they stood in her house for a quite a while, just catching up. Link, of course, had much more to say than Saria did when the question, "So how have you been?" was asked. He gave her the basic rundown of his situation at Hyrule Castle too, and Saria just smiled all the way through, and giggled whenever Link mentioned Zelda.

"Why are you laughing at me, Saria?" he whined in mock annoyance, interrupting his explanation.

"Nothing...teehee...nothing, Link," she had replied.

As soon as she was satisfied, Saria started to lead the way out, only to meet a crowd of Kokiri that had just begun to gather at her door. 

"Where is that guy?!" demanded one of the Know-It-All Brothers. "Hey! Look! It's Saria! Saria! We saw this weird Hylian go into your house and--"

At that time, Link ducked his head out first and emerged from the little house to receive a gasp from the crowd. 

"That's him!" Torin cried out.

"Hold on just a minute!" Saria obliged the confused crowd of forest children. "This Hylian is a friend of the forest, okay? I have to take him to see the Deku Sprout, so if you'll please--"

"But Mido's there! He'll get mad if you bring an outsider to the 'Sprout!" one of the girls that used to hang out in the shop all day pleaded.

"I know that," Saria told her, "But trust me, he'll understand."

The Kokiri did make way for them, although murmuring as they did.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Link laughed. 

"Now what's so funny?" Saria asked him.

"They're going to go crazy..." Link predicted, then chuckled again.

Saria just shook her head slightly and kept leading on. They passed the narrow path that Mido used to guard with his life against the unworthy. Link remembered the Kokiri Sword then, which he had stashed under his shield for concealment at the moment. Mido, he thought, would appreciate finally being able to have it. He knew that the boy had been jealous of it being in Link's possession ever since he let him pass on that fateful day.

However, Link had been glad to hear that the Deku Sprout had appeared much earlier than it had in the other time. It had been around almost since the day he'd left, really, popping up and talking within a month after he had defeated Ghoma. Saria had reported that it was now a healthy little sapling that was probably just a little taller than Link at the moment and though it had great wisdom, the humor and informality of its words was a welcome change from its father's formal dialect.

They came upon the vast clearing, still haunted by the half-petrified form of the dead Great Deku Tree. Link had known, when he came back, that time started again on the day that he put the Spiritual Stones in the altar and played the Song of Time, so not all of Ganon's evils were repaired, but they were already corrected well enough, thanks to his doing. The leaves of the old tree had long withered away, leaving behind a skeleton-like shadow for the sapling that reached higher and higher with each passing day. It was a strange looking thing, with a big base and a tiny top, but it was probably just the nature of the Deku Tree species to be so. It reminded Link of his own body a few years before, when he was gangly and rather funny looking. Puberty, he had realized, was one thing he had been grateful to miss before. 

However, the little orange and green speck began to take shape as they walked closer, along with its blue speck of a fairy. Link could not find the dread within himself that he had once held when going to talk to Mido. There was something inside of him, other than that fact that he was now so much bigger than the Kokiri, that told him not to worry. 

"Sorry to interrupt!" Saria called so as not to startled the tree and the boy, who seemed to be having a rather calm discussion on some matter.

Mido looked over his shoulder nonchalantly, almost with an annoyed expression, but then his little brows knit as he saw a Hylian in his sacred place. "What do you think you're doing, Saria!" he admonished, rising from where he sat on the forest floor.

"Calm down, Mido!" she told him. "He's actually here to explain something to you...something I think you might find quite interesting."

Mido directed his scornful gaze away from Saria and up into Link's eyes. "All right, Mister, this better be good!" the threat was a hollow as the little bully's had always been, and instead of a cringe, it brought a grin to Link's face.

"She's right, Mido," the hero began, calling the Kokiri boss by name. "You should listen to Saria more often, you know. She usually says some pretty smart things."

"Just how do you know Saria anyway, Mister?" 

Link then laughed full out, hearing the phrase echo so similarly to one that Mido had demanded of him in another time. "She and I are the best of friends, of course. In fact, for most of my life, she was my only friend. You were never very nice to me either, but I don't hold it against you anymore. You were right, you know, about me not being one of your kind...I was just hoping you'd recognize me, but I guess you didn't think I would ever come back, did you?"

Mido's eyes were wide and fixed on Link's face as he finished talking. The boy was speechless, and from behind him, the deep, resounding laugh of the Deku Sprout could be heard. 

"By the way," Link continued, reaching for his oldest sword when he got no response, "If this helps at all," he drew the little Kokiri Sword, "then I think you'll understand. I'm giving it back to you, in fact, since its too small for me now."

"Y-you're..." Mido stammered as Link kneeled down to put the sword back into his hands.

"My name is Link, Mido. You always said it was a stupid name, but the others had their hearts set on it by the time you piped up..."

"You...You're a...Hylian? Y-you're huge!" Mido blanched, letting the little sword fall out of his hands as he never ceased staring at the what had become of the little weirdo he used to pick on. 

"It happens out there, in the world beyond the forest. In fact, I'm still growing, and I have met many men who are much bigger than me," the swordsman explained.

"Ah Link!" a new voice, that of the much amused Deku Sprout, called, "My father's roots tell me much of you. Though you are not in fact a Kokiri, you should know that you are always welcome in these woods."

"Thank you, Deku Sprout. Your father was very good to me, and I am honored to be treated as well by you."

"Ah, 'tis nothing. If I had it my way, I would keep you in the woods for all of your days so that you may guard my children, but alas, this is not what fate has in store for you. You will become a great man, Link, even greater than you are now!" the strange-looking tree told him. Link could feel its strong voice resounding in his chest, but somehow, it was a comforting feeling. The tree could only do him good, not harm.

"I can only hope so."

In response, the tree just laughed heartily, shaking its leaves as it did. The Deku Sprout then turned his attention to Mido. "Do not act so afraid, Mido. I know that Link bears no ill will toward you. He is a brave and righteous man, and he has chosen to come here and visit with us while there is peace in this world. Would he have chosen to do so if he did not wish to extend his friendship toward _all_ the Kokiri?"

Mido shook his head slowly, his eyes still wide, but gazing now as his feet, rather than at Link.

"You should listen to the Deku Sprout as well, Mido," Link said reassuringly, ruffling the boy's hair and making him jump. Link laughed and bent down to pick up the Kokiri Sword that Mido had dropped earlier. "Besides, one shouldn't dwell on the past. The future is what counts anyway."

Mido took the sword again as it was offered, this time clutching the little blade to his chest protectively. "I'm not afraid of you wanting to get me back!" he sounded. "That's just stupid! ...I know I pushed you around a lot before, Link, but after the Great Deku Tree died, I realized that you did a lot for us, and that it was wrong for me to yell at you all the time. So..."

"It's all right, Mido. You don't have to tell me you're sorry. Besides, I've already forgiven you," Link told him, placing a big hand on his little shoulder and wondering at the change in his former tormentor.

"T-thanks...Link."

"C'mon!" Saria suggested enthusiastically, calling the attention of all. "You've got me all excited now, Link! Let's tell the others!"

He nodded and they filed out, throwing their good-byes for the Deku Sprout over their shoulders as they went. 

The entire populace of the Kokiri village was now amassed at the entrance to the Great Deku Tree's clearing, gossiping and gasping as they tried to jump up to see anything over the crowd. Obviously...it wasn't usual to see a Hylian admitted into the clearing...

Link walked up to them flanked by a grinning Mido and Saria, whose fairies sat on the girl's shoulder, whispering to one another as they often did. They parted, though, when Saria spoke up.

"My friend here has something very important to tell all of you," she shouted over the crowd, "So listen up!"

When Mido offered no support, and the kids were quiet enough, Link cleared his throat and spoke to them.

"Seventeen or so years ago, the Great Deku Tree gave to all of you a strange little creature that he claimed would grow up to be a Kokiri. You all remember him, don't you? He was the boy who didn't have a fairy, a shy little guy too, for the most part," he began.

"His name was Link, Mister," a girl informed him from the front of the crowd, "But he left the forest a long time ago."

"Yes, yes he did. I'll tell you what though, he was actually just in Castle Town this very morning." Link was setting them up for a ploy. He loved telling stories to kids, and tricking them into assuming the wrong thing. Of course, he would always tell them what really happened in the end, but the deceit was just for fun.

"He's alive?"  
  


"You did?"  
  


"It couldn't have been him--"

"You're a liar!"

"Are you sure?"

The crowd erupted, but Link just chuckled lightly, offering no response until they settled down again. 

"He left the town, though, this morning. He's actually been all over the world in these past few years, really. He's just come back to Hyrule, and besides helping Princess Zelda like he did before, he wanted to visit some old friends...Do you kids think he wants to come back here?"

By then, he could see their eyes focus on him differently. Their childish minds had pushed aside his vagueness and were now just beginning to make connections. He didn't let them start again, for fear they would ruin it.

"I actually found out something about him too. He's a Hylian! Did you know that? That's why he never had a fairy!"

"But that's not true!" Torin objected. "He couldn't be a Hylian...because is he was a Hylian he'd be...he'd be...grown up..." The dutiful guard of the village entrance trailed off, grasping the significance of what he'd just said.

"Yes, he would be, wouldn't he?" Link just grinned and left it hanging for them.

"Those blue eyes, that big hat!" the oldest Know-It-All Brother exclaimed. "You're him aren't you? You're Link!"

The hero didn't even have to say anything, or even nod. The Kokiri knew him then, and they no longer stood staring at a foreign invader in their sacred forest, but rather ran the short distance to him and called out the name they'd given him so long ago. He bent down once again and tried to gather all of his old friends and neighbors into his arms, but there were just too many of them. They settled instead for hanging all over him and bombarding him with questions, as children often do. He was only delighted to answer as many as he could, but before long, Mido broke up the mound of forest children that had swarmed their Hylian brother, saying that there would be plenty of time for everyone to talk to Link and reminding them that it was almost time for dinner. 

Of course, then, a feast was unanimously suggested, in order to celebrate Link's return. He had explained to them that he would only be able to stay for three days, but they insisted anyway, and then scattered to make preparations, leaving him and Saria alone in the corridor of trees, with Mido gone off to direct the ecstatic Kokiri.

"I had hoped it would be this way..." Link said, looking out after the children as they ran off to give him a proper Kokiri welcome.

"Despite what you might have thought, Link, they all missed you. Even Mido was sad after you left, and he thought it was his fault. Most of them feared you dead...so even if they now know you are a Hylian, they're just glad to see you're okay," Saria explained.

He nodded, then turned to her and offered her his gauntleted hand. "Do you remember that one day when I tried to carry you home from the pond on my back because you were tired, and I couldn't because I wasn't strong enough?"

"Yes..." she acknowledged, though looking curious as to why he was bringing up the incident.

"I owe you a ride, and if it's all right with you, I think I can pay you back now."

Saria then laughed her little fairy's laugh, and took his hand with her own tiny one. Tali, being the kind of fairy that never letting an opportunity pass her by, zoomed up to the brim of Link's floppy green hat, where she rested and waited until he had pulled Saria onto his shoulders. 

"Yah!" the green-haired Forest Sage shouted as she commanded her mount, the Hero of Time, onward to her house.

It was as if, for a moment, he was a Kokiri again. They could laugh and play all day, not having to worry about any grown-up concerns, and never fearing death. He had once wished to go back to the forest, while off fighting for his very life in a far away land, and as he carried his best friend on his back, laughing and playing, Link wondered why he had ever left...

...But he, like the Deku Sprout had said, could not stay. It was his fate, his destiny, to help others in need, wherever they were in need of him. However, fate never said it was wrong for him to visit and go back to those times again...just for a little while...

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	12. Twelveth

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

I. have. no. free. time! Apologies for the shortness of this...

Also sorry for the delay, people, but keep telling me what you think of this...

"Do you really have to go tonight?" pleaded a little blonde, sad-eyed Kokiri girl.

Link regretted that once again his response was, "Yes, yes I do."

His three days in the forest had done nothing other than fly by. It didn't matter if he was catching up with Saria in her own special clearing outside the Forest Temple, or if he was giving into Mido's demands that he tell the Kokiri leader all about the world outside the forest, or if he was just playing and laughing with the other Kokiri...time just escaped him.

Link had wondered if it had been like this, when he was still a child, with time being of no real importance and to a point where it came and went too quickly for him to care. Unfortunately, though, he had to care now. When the sun set on that day, he would have to return to the castle and back into the plots of Zelda and the Old Knights. He would have to fight witfully against the Emperor Terinae once more with lies and false notions. He would have to figure this all out...and return peace to Hyrule again, but as much as he loved being back in the forest, he found himself missing the winding corridors of Hyrule Castle well enough...

However, Link had one very important thing left to do before he did leave the forest. Saria had told him, when he'd awoken on the second day, that the Deku Sprout had requested that Link speak with him before he left. Link was actually glad to hear that, since he had a few things to ask the one little tree that would know more about his origin than any other creature in Hyrule. Of course, it was all this lie and intrigue about who he was that made Link suddenly more interested in the truth of it. 

"Don't worry, Nessa," he told the girl that had followed him to the entrance of the Great Deku Tree's clearing, "I'll be here until you go sleep, and I'll come back to visit again before you know it."

This didn't seem to satisfy the Kokiri very well, but never the less, she let Link alone to talk with the tree. 

The grove was still lively, even with the great gray hulk of the dead Great Deku Tree looming over it all. Sun beams shot in through his great twisting branches and shone in patches along the short grass and moss of the forest floor. Forest fairies still flew about here in great numbers, giggling sometimes as they went. And amongst all of it shot up the Deku Sprout, that seemed to grow by the hour. He bore a youthful countenance, unlike his predecessor, and he lacked the eyebrow and mustache features that stood behind him, rather, having a wide under-biting mouth and two eyes that simply looked carved into the trunk, of course, when the tree did not blink, they did.

"Ah Link!" he nearly roared in a warm greeting. "I am very glad that I have gotten the opportunity to meet you, the Hero of Time, once again!"

At that comment, Link's face was marred with confusion. Zelda had told him that only he and the Sages knew of the alternate future. He had not expected even the mythical tree to be free from the ignorance of the rest of the world.

The Sprout, of course, had probably predicted this. "Haha! You seem so shocked that I know your title. Link, my roots, intertwined with those of my deceased father, cannot lie. Even though I was merely a seedling at the time, I was not able to forget what happened, simply because the minds of trees like myself do not work like those of other sentient creatures. I know all that has happened and all that never will happen. Time is of little matter to me and my eternal children, though it may be of great importance to mortals such as yourself."

He continued on, saying, "However, I am sure that talking of the minds of different creatures is not why we have been brought together again, Link. I must say, though, that as the original revealer of the secret of your own race to you, that you make a very fine Hylian man. My father's roots tell me enough of your kind so that I may say such things."

"Thank you, Deku Sprout..." Link managed in reply.

The ent gave a great laugh again. "Saria has told me of your current quest. She tells me that you are pretending to be the son of a noble Hylian Knight so that you may aid Princess Zelda in taking that Emperor out of Hyrule. Now I must tell you, Link, that for all my knowledge, I know precious little about such affairs, but I will tell you this. The Emperor's men are afreared of my forest, and with very good reason. They are even weaker of mind and magic than normal Hylians, so they get lost very easily. If you, or any loyal Hylian that seeks to aid you and Princess Zelda, ever need a safe place, a refuge if you will, from whatever harm the outside world may bring, then feel free to come to me, and I will protect you as if you were truly my children. I swear it upon my father's roots, just as he swore to protect you when you were just a babe."

"You have my undying gratitude, Deku Sprout," Link told the tree firmly, though relaxing at the notion that he did not have to bow. "I should hope we would never have to seek such refuge, but it's good to know that there is somewhere to go. But...I wish to ask a rather vague question of you, before I must go, that is."

"Then ask, Hero, ask what you wish."

Link's gaze shifted to his boots, his fear rising at the thought of how little information he would probably get. "You said that you get your knowledge from your father's roots, and well, I have been wondering ever since you told me I was a Hylian back in the other time as to who my parents were, and the circumstances of my being left here."

"But Link, I told you of that already. Do you not remember?" the tree returned.

"Oh no, I remember it all. You simply said that my mother was fatally wounded and charged me into the Great Deku Tree's care before she died when I was practically a newborn. I want to know, though, is if you know more than that..."

The ent's mouth twisted and the carved-out eyes closed as if he was literally reaching out underground towards the roots of the Great Deku Tree, though the two were already one...

"My father's roots tell me very little on the subject. They speak of a woman who was all over red as the fall leaves of maple trees and you as a babe, who seemed as golden as the mid morning sun. She entreated him to keep you and my father had other memories of her voice and took you in because he knew her somehow, but I cannot detect how. She perished only hours after, in her wearied slumber, and my father covered her body in the vines that served him, so that she would go back into the earth and not alarm his children. He could feel the heat of war-fire beyond the forest as he called his children to him so that they could take you to be cared for, and as he did so, he came to know you as a child of destiny. This is all his roots will show, other than more concern for the fires outside of his forest..."

Link was silent, and slightly disappointed. The whole of it was only an elaboration on the earlier telling of his coming into the forest. All this he could have simply assumed, with a few new, yet less than helpful bits of information. 

"This isn't what you wished to know, is it Link?" the Deku Sprout inferred.

"No it's not. I suppose, though, that Hylian concerns are also different from the concerns of Guardian Spirit Trees. It is of no real matter, just my own curiosity," Link confirmed, still sounding a little down-trodden. 

"There, there, Hero," the tree consoled. "I am sure that you will find the knowledge you seek, and for you, I shall spend some mortal time in the memories of my father's roots. He may yet know more, but I shall have to search long and hard. Come to me again sometime, Link, and maybe I will even have what you seek. However, perhaps you should set yourself above Hylian concerns at times. You are a hero and a champion, and your focus should be on the goals of the Hero of Time, not on the concerns of a Hylian."

It was good, solid advice, but Link still sough to protest. "But it's very hard to be a Hylian and the Hero of Time at the same time. My quest is always the first thing on my mind, but other thoughts lurk around it and I cannot help but think them."

"It is your destiny, Link, to be a mortal hero, simply because heroism involves risking one's life. However, it doesn't mean that for every bit of time your life consumes, you must think a hero's thoughts, only that those should be your priority. Should you succeed in your quests and trials, you shall achieve peace, and when there is peace, heroes may rest and become Hylians again. Do you understand my words, Link?"  
  


He nodded slowly. "I believe I do. But, one day, when there is peace in this land, I will find out that which has eluded me. I will find out where I came from, won't I?"

The Sprout laughed again, seemingly shaking the whole forest as he did. "Be the Goddesses willing, Link, and I believe that they shall be. I hope, for you, that you find more than that when peace is returned to this land, Hero. You deserve all that can be given...Our time together, though, must come to an end soon. You must needs prepare to return to your quest."

Link sighed and gave into the thought with mixed emotions, as he did with most. "You're right. We shall meet again, Deku Sprout!" he affirmed.

"Then I look forward to our next meeting, Hero of Time. Good journey to you, my young friend."

Link just nodded politely in reply and waved as he walked quickly out of the grove. 

The afternoon sky, when glimpsed through the canopy, had indeed started to darken as the sun set in the west. Link had to attend his last Kokiri feast and play his last forest games. at least for the time being...

But before he even knew it, not only Saria, but also Mido and a few others were standing on the bridge to watch him leave and say their goodbyes. He gave each of them a strong embrace and promised to return again some day, giving a longer, sadder hug to his best friend, whom he would have to leave yet again. 

However, the foul mood he'd been put into by leaving the forest was soon soothed as he mounted up on Epona and caught sight of the high towers of Hyrule Castle in the distance. He had a quest to get back to, a quest for Hyrule...

And...he had to get back to Zelda again...

So Link rode off once again into the vast Hyrule Field, galloping Epona as he went, suddenly eager to get back to his new life of falsehood in the name of good.

As he rode up to the gates, bringing his rusty mare to a halt, a single guard, now guarding and commanding the closed drawbridge gate to Castle Town, decreed, "Halt there!"

Link obeyed without hesitation, and recognized the man as the one who was in charge of the other two guards that had been the ones to tell him first of Hyrule's newest problem. He pulled Epona up to the man and offered his hand down to the soldier. "We meet again, my friend," he said in greeting.

It took a moment for the Hylian guard to recognize Link, but when he did, he grinned and gave the younger man's hand a firm shake with his own. "Ah! I've heard quite a bit about you since I let you through all those days ago. Why did you not tell me of your name and title, Master Link? I wouldn't have given you so much fuss, had you done so."

"To tell the truth," and ironically, it was, for the most part, the truth. "I had no real idea how much effect my title would have. I'm sorry, good soldier, if you felt that I deceived you, but I know so little of my own kingdom."

"Oh 'tis nothing, Your Honor!" the man affirmed loudly. "I am only glad to be of service. Your masters have arrived only just before you, so I think it would be best that you seek to follow them swiftly, right?" Then the guard turned to shout to the man on the drawbridge, but Link stopped him before he could yell out the order to take it up.

"But what of my promise to you, though? I told you that I would tell you all I learned about what was going on with the Emperor when I next saw you and--"

The guard interrupted. "Master Link, you'd do me great honor to tell me such things, but I'm afraid the we are both busy men. I have a bridge to guard, and you have a castle to get back to. Perhaps we shall meet again, on a better occasion for the story."

Link was perplexed at how the guard's behavior had changed from their earlier meeting. It reminded Link just how much he hated being thought of as "above" anyone else, but he could do nothing to alter it now. "Then that is my hope as well. Thank you, good soldier."

"Any time, Master Squire." The man then called to have the drawbridge lowered and Epona's hooves were soon clip clopping across it and onto the cobble stones of the quiet Castle Town...and back to Zelda...

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	13. Thirteenth

You Wish Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

Yes, I know it's been...over a month...but you can blame school and a lack of the want to write for that. Anyway, back to what you really clicked this internet link for...

The castle wasn't nearly as lively as it was during the day once the sun had set and dinner was over, but it still certainly wasn't dead. Link led Epona quietly through the nearly deserted courtyard, inhabited only by a few servants hurrying about their late night business and the rustling herd animals that huddled instictively together to fall asleep. Warm light still exuded from the stables, as was to be expected, though Link was under the impression it was for late comers to keep from tripping over the various implements of a stable when putting up their horses for the night. 

However, that wasn't entirely the case. He came upon the deligent stable boy he'd befriended, Chasel, dozing in an empty stall, just next to the front entrance. Like all stable boys do, he quickly awakened at the sound of horses hooves. 

"Oh! Master Link! I-I'm sorry I fell asleep! Sir Damen told me you should be coming home tonight and I wanted to wait up for you...but I guess it got late and--" the boy stammered as he bolted up out of the hay.

"No need for apologies," Link told him. "You didn't even have to wait up for me."

"...I wanted to, though," Chasel insisted, already moving to take Epona's head to guide her to her stall. "Besides...I wanted to talk to you too, if that's all right, Master Link."

Link nodded, but kept his guiding hand on Epona as Chasel touched the other side of the mare's strong neck. They both led her into her stall, after a look was exchanged between the two. Link grabbed her brushes along the way, and they both began to untack her when Chasel spoke again.

"I...wanted to thank you, I mean, for the other day. The others have been a lot nicer to me, since then, even though they still don't do they're work..."

Link laughed this time as he slid the saddle from his tired horse's back and set it aside. "That's good to hear. I trust that we have both had a good set of days then..."

"What do you mean, Master Link?"

"Ah...nothing, really. Just that some people who used to be unkind to me have changed their minds as well," he explained.

Chasel smiled, and they finished their work in blissful silence as the night grew on. 

Link couldn't find it in himself to be tired, though, once he left the yawning boy to get his rest in the servant's quarters. However, the castle was indeed much abed by then, and he figured that he should at least try to sleep as well. As he ascended the last of many flights of stairs, though, he heard the echoing of voices filter through the stone corridors. Making sure to keep as quiet as possible, in order not to alert the speakers to his presence, he reached the top and peeked just slightly around the corner. 

The torch light of the junction of the four halls which held the bedrooms of Hyrule's Who's Who was playing off of the armor of the Emperor Terinae as he stood, conversing with one of his uglier generals, this one a portly man with large ears and beady eyes whose name Link could not remember. They were completely unaware of his presence, though, and Link's only instinct was to listen in on their words, to possibly gain some information for Zelda by them. 

"--so then you're saying I should bring my men back into the Castle Town?" the Emperor's booming voice resonated off of the stone. 

"It wouldn't hurt you to. They do you no good in Kakariko, all pent up like that, far away from you and your leadership. Surely, the Hylians in town are not afraid of the scanty collection of soldiers you put on the corners of the busy streets, but they were very afraid when the men swarmed their very homes. It's all--"

Terinae cut his general off. "Enough of that already! I have told you of my decision on this matter before! The troops stay in Kakariko unless I, and I alone, see need for them here! Do you understand?"

Link decided that that was as good a time as any to duck back fully behind the corner and just listen in on the rest. 

"...Yes sir. I understand. It won't happen again, sir."

"Good. What other news do you have for me? The hour grows late, and I have work to do yet this night."

"Quinsen reports to me that he has still found very little on the boy, sir. He would do so himself, but after the last time he'd found no new information--"

Terinae obviously did not have enough patience to let this particular general finish what he had to say...ever. "So he's a coward even more so now. I see. Well, I shall deal with him tomorrow. What a fool that man is, though. Surely there must be something on this Squire that the Princess will not shut up about. It doesn't take more than a man with a decent head on his shoulders to find records of history. He might very well be...Well, I shant say it here. I shall only remind you to keep doing the same. Begone, my servant."

"As you wish, sir." 

Link tensed up and then suddenly tried to put on his most oblivious of airs, knowing that one of them would probably see him. However, he only heard one set of footsteps walk away, down a hall that extended away from the stairwell. 

When the hero looked around the corner again, he only saw the Emperor Terinae's back traveling down the Royal's hall, with no trace left of the ugly general. 

Needless to say, it only added to the strangness of the whole incident. "He might very well be..." what? They had to have been talking about him. Terinae didn't sound too enthused either. Nevertheless, it was too late for Link to act on what he had heard. He would make a note to tell Zelda, though, as soon as he could, but for now, he would puzzle it out himself in the solitude of his room. He waited quietly until Terinae had shut his heavy oak door in the other hall, and then proceeded to walk to his own door in the north wing. 

The Hero of Time, however, was in for a bit of a surprise when he entered his chamber...

Upon his bed sat Princess Zelda and her lady Calandra, speaking in low voices with their heads down. Their eyes shot up at Link, though, as soon as he entered the room. 

"I was wondering if you were ever going to come back!" Zelda exclaimed, almost jokingly. Link found it hard to judge her mood right then.

"They insisted that I stay for one last feast," he explained, dropping his saddle bags just inside the doorway. 

"I take it you had a good visit then?" she asked.

He nodded in reply, something he seemed to do too often around her. 

"I'm glad to hear that. You're probably wondering why Calandra and myself decided to let ourselves into your room this late at night, though, aren't you?" There it was again, her plotting, mischevious little girl smile. 

"Yes," Link replied with a grin, unable to resist the temptation. "I am wondering why."

"Well, the good news is that our little plan is working out great. The entire castle asks of you, even when you are away. But, there is a little bit of a problem. I'm almost sure that Terinae couldn't dislike you more. All these three days I've been forced to stay late to oblige him at dinner, all he did was ask me why I thought so highly of you and interrogate me as to any information I might have about you. I believe he's already percieving you as some kind of threat."

"You'll actually never believe what I just heard," Link told her as she paused. 

"What?"

"I chanced upon the Emperor himself and one of his cronies talking about me. Some lacky of his is supposed to be looking up all the information on me that he can. I didn't get a reason why, but it's my suspicion that they don't give that kind of treatment to every new man that shows up at court..."

Zelda's expression went serious then, but she nodded confidently to Calandra and said to her, "Make sure you pay a few visits to the various libraries as well tomorrow."

It had been pretty obvious to Link before that Calandra did more than your average lady in waiting would be called upon to do, but now he had full out admission of the quiet girl's position as a spy from the Princess herself. 

Zelda continued before her spy could even respond, though no response was necessary. "It's because of this, Link, that I'm going to show you a secret passage, one of many in this old castle, for you to use should you need to tell me something if we could not otherwise meet, or should I need to seek you out as well. I had Calandra give this room especially to you for this reason." With that, the Princess rose and commanded the rest of the dimly lit room to do so with her. 

She walked over to the barest coner of the room, right near one of the high windows on the western wall. "This stone," she announced, pointing to the large flagstone on the floor in front of her, "Opens to a passage in the floor below us, between the walls of a few work rooms. At night, these rooms are completely empty, and by day, they are filled with noise so that none may hear anyone creeping between them. The stone is almost indistinguishable beause it is indeed sealed into the floor right now, just like all the rest. However, this one is enchanted. Impa herself helped me to renew the enchantment. Her ancestors, who were equal warriors of the Royal Family with the Knights, would use this passge to hold council with the King late at night when enemy spies within the castle would be sleeping and unaware. The spell needed to open it is really quite simple, and it is the same on the other side."

"And I would be able to use it?" Link wondered aloud. 

"Of course!" Zelda beamed, her eyes dancing at the idea of magic, her area of prowess. "All it requires is a command, nothing much on the opener's part."

Link nodded and stood, waiting for her to show him.

Zelda grinned what would be called a very un-ladylike grin and turned from him to the stone in the floor. "Kaedus Shundel!" she commanded, in what Link could only guess was Ancient Hylian, or some such magical tongue.

Sure enough, the stone responded, the mortar at its edges glowing blue as soon as the words fell upon it. The blue light engulfed the large stone from the outside in and soon it dissapeared completely, fading out in a very discreet way. A little hole was revealed, just big enough for a grown man to drop down into. 

Whatever humor tempted Link to say, "Ladies first," he held back on second thought.

Zelda, however, didn't need prompting or commands. After all, she was royalty, and her way was the law, or should have been at least. She slipped through almost immeadiately, with Calandra in tow as usual. It reminded Link, as he brought himself to a crooked grin, of a certain girl who dressed up like a Sheikah boy that had a way with being everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

He was only glad to follow. 

The passage below was dark, pitch black, in fact, as one might suppose the gap between walls would be. Then a little white light appeared, not unlike a certain guardian fairy of long ago, but this one was a magical charm that Zelda held over head. 

"Mind you, Link," she commented as she lit the way for the three of them, "That you'll have to bring a small torch, or that if there is ever time, I should teach you some light magic."

"I'm no mage, Zelda," he reminded her, hoping the floor wasn't as rough as it would probably be so that he would catch his foot on a stone and fall head first into the women.

"That's where you're wrong," she corrected him. "You don't necessarily have the abilities of myself or any of the Sages, but you can indeed learn magic. I'm sure it would just be difficult for you to teach yourself something that was not given to you by a fairy, or another mage. The Three have gifted us in different ways, but I'm confident that you can use a wide variety of magics."

"I've only learned three simple spells before..."

"Ah come now! You know more than that! What is it that lights your arrows with flame, or light, or makes them freeze? I'm sure there are many spells you have that you just do not know of, Link."

"I suppose you're right," he conceded, thinking on the things that Zelda had yet to learn about him, such as his abilities (through the masks, of course) to transform into a different creature all together.

"This is it," Zelda announced, stopping the other two with her. "The dead end lands us in my bedchamber. You know, they were going to originally make this passage so that it led to the King's room itself, but the architects decided that no one would make much of a passage going into the rooms of the Princes and Princesses. Politics, I suppose, demand shrewdness on the part of every player...Why don't you give this one a try, Link?"

He didn't even have to ask the words again. After having to puzzle out dungeons upon dungeons, Link had gained for himself an uncommonly sharp memory. "Kaedus Shundel."

The stone knew not the difference between him and the Princess, and opened on command. Once again, Zelda became Sheik as she jumped way too high and too well for such a sheltered young woman and lifted herself swiftly up onto the stones before her spy or her hero could even offer her help. Calandra followed, though, with almost mirror-like motion, and Link vaulted up as if it wasn't the least bit shocking to him that two noble women could move with such strength and grace.

Of course, he was no so unamazaed for long. Link had entered foreign territory once again, but this territory did not belong to some ancient foe...

No...it was too pink for that. 

Pink and gold, in fact. A vast, expansive bedroom, royal beyond any commoner's dreams. It was hard for Link to believe that the high curtained bed, the gold-inlayed cherry furnishings, and the rich tapestries did not belong in the best room of the castle. It was hard for him to find Zelda's chamber second best.

"I shall meet with you here if ever there's a need. Terinae has no ears within my walls, and of that Calandra keeps certain," the Princess assured Link as he took it in.

"On that note, Milady, it is time that I should depart for my round," the spy and handmaiden chimed in, bowing as she did so.

"Yes it is. Be safe, dear friend," Zelda told the quiet girl, dismissing her.

Calandra offered only another bow before he quick exit. 

"I've always wondered where they put you in this great maze," Link told the Princess once they were left alone.

"I'd rather live up in the loft of Impa's house again, if I had a choice," she told him, looking with mild annoyance at the riches that surrounded them. "But it seems a fitting place to store a trophy, doesn't it?"

"A trophy?"

"A Princess is such, Link. I had hoped that Hyrule would be ready to shed its old ways when it came time for my father to leave this world and for me to take the throne, but it is true what they say, as much as it isn't right. 'A Princess is a trophy to be given to the best competitor in the race for the King's love.' No woman has ever held the throne of Hyrule, as many Princesses as there have been, and as many have been sole heirs, it has been their husbands who ascended to true power."

"That doesn't make sense to me," Link declared. "It is neither fair nor right. Besides, there's no man in Hyrule, or probably in all the world that has such wisdom as you. I always thought that all leaders were supposed to be wise..."

"Supposed to be and are, Link, can be very different things, but we can remedy that."

He nodded, wishing he had a better response, but he was beginning to feel the effects of all the travelling he'd done on his wearied body.

"We should sleep, Link," Zelda told him. "It is late, and you have been riding all night. Go back through the passage, and take one of my candles with you. The same words that open the passage close it. I shall send for you in the morning."

"Can I ask one thing, though, Zelda?"

"Yes?"  
  


"What does 'Kaedus Shundel' mean anyway?"

She sighed and repeated dryly, "Glory of Kings."

"When you are Queen, you should change the words," he noted simply.

Link then jumped on her cheated mood. He took her hand and bowed with it like he'd started to make a custom of, this time, adding another move to the ritual he'd seen other noblemen do. He very lightly kissed the back of her hand before he released it, then said, "Goodnight, Queen Zelda," before he dissapeared with a taper into the passage back to his own room, no longer so lonely now that it was linked with hers...

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	14. Fourteenth

You Wish! Productions (www.you-wish.net) presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org.

Once again...I apologize for the lack of updates. I just haven't had the time (yes, I know it's been 4 months) to sit down and write. That's what I get for being involved in theatre. Right. On we go...

The people of the castle were, for the most part, very kind and accepting of Link. He fit perfectly into the lie that Zelda had somehow miraculously crafted for him. A hero forgotten, who lived now as a traveling swordsman, easily had the skill of any young Squire. A Hylian raised in a foreign land would indeed be ignorant of the great amount of custom and history within the castle walls. However, one thing about him caught some people off guard. This young man, who was rumored to be such good friends with the Princess herself, and perhaps more, did not have a name that could be found in the books.

"Milady, Master Link," Calandra addressed the two one night, only about a week after Link had learned of her true status as Zelda's spy, "I've a bit of information you may want to hear concerning the Emperor."

---

"It was a time of war in this nation!" Terinae's lackey shouted in protest. "Surely not all things were recorded as they should have been. The people had more important things to do than record the names of infants!"

Terinae slammed his fist down on the great table on which the other man had set the heavy record book on. "That's not good enough! You are just entirely too half-witted to look in the right place!"

The chastised man gabbed the page in front of him, trying to sound brave despite the rage of the Emperor, though his own breaking voice was betraying him. "This is the best I can get! It only recalls the date and the fact that Sir Dorian Demus of the House of Red Lions and Lady Elensa Rallon's child, a boy, was born then. There is no more!"

"Certainly there must be another record book for that year. Come on now, Zalik. You cannot be that stupid!"

The man, who Calandra then chanced a peek at, was small, gaunt, and round-eared, but otherwise as nondescript as most of the Emperor's men were. Zalik, however, seemed quite frustrated, an uncommon look for those soldiers that often wouldn't dare to blink in the presence of their commander. "I'm telling you the truth, Master. There is no other book for that year. None. I have searched this retched place the whole length over four times now and I have not found it. I have even gone out to the village of Kakariko, but the only records there are those of death, not birth. I have gone to the Temple of Time and badgered the stubborn priests there, but they have no records of that time. They were burned in the fires of war! Surely, Master, my Lord Emperor, you know how things are destroyed in war..."

"Of course I do! What do you think me, Zalik, an ignorant little imp? I lead you for a reason, and it is a reason I hope you should not so soon forget! I am simply telling you, as I have told the others, that you are an idiot. If do not seek to correct this, I may find your presence here more of an annoyance than anything useful to me. You know where that leads..." The Emperor ended on what seemed like an unusual tone to Calandra. He had sounded more threatening, and less mysterious with that open-ended statement.

Of course, the other man's reply only served to support her inference. "M-my Lord, surely, you would not have me back there again, would you? You know it is...it is...it is terrible for me, my Lord, b-back there."

"Then prove yourself useful to me and find a book within this kingdom that contains the name Link Dorian. That way, neither one of us will trouble himself with such thoughts as that..." With that the Emperor's steps began to take him out of the library, and left his soldier turned researcher left to mumble over his dismay.

Calandra crept quietly back down the corridor before anyone had noticed that she had even been there in the first place.

---

The three of them stood on the forgotten stairs leading up to the equally forgotten tower that Zelda loved. Link's frustration was perhaps even greater than Zalik's. 

"Why can't he and his men just say things straight! They speak in half-phrases and riddles to one another and they riddle worse than any sacred Temple! How do they understand one another, let alone themselves!" he cried, pounding on the stone of the stairwell in his discontent.

"They obviously have something to hide, but this is no news to us, is it?" Zelda reasoned, though she was equally frustrated by the incomplete nature of the Emperor's speech.

It was not the first time that Calandra had come to meet them when they were together to tell them of Terinae's strange interest in Link. She had reported incidents like this three times in the last seven days, and this third time was definitely not the last.

"I shall continue to follow the Emperor then, so that I may provide you with more information, Your Highness," the quiet girl simply stated and turned to do so.

"Calandra, wait," Zelda said, halting her servant's steps. "I don't feel it safe for you to seek out Terinae in his chambers. As much as I want to know of his plotting and prying, I do not want him to know of mine. Besides, I believe that I have been successful in my efforts to deter him from thinking that I will be his way to get Hyrule, and I do not think that the Emperor is pleased with me or anyone loyal to me right now. Please, my friend, for your safety, do not follow him at night."

"Very well then. May I take my leave to sleep then, Highness?" the other woman asked, out of the very traditional courtesy of a servant.

"Yes, yes you may. Thank you, Calandra."

The quiet girl performed a quick bow and made her exit.

As Zelda watched her leave and heard her footsteps echo off the stone walls, she made a remark that she had made a few times before. "I'm still unsure as to why he's so interested in you, Link."

Link sighed and sat, looking somewhat resigned, upon the dusty steps. "He's probably figured out I'm a fake. I must have let something slip. He's probably just looking for proof that I'm not who I say I am so that he can use me against you. I'm sorry--"

"Don't even say it. Link, I'm almost entirely sure that Terinae knows nothing of our deception. Even if he did, he would not need proof to slander you and I. He has half of my court in the palm of his hand, and they will agree with him no matter what. Half is enough to make a fool of me, certainly, and enough to guarantee Hyrule to him. If he knew, then he would not wait to find proof," she concluded. "No...there must be some other reason..."

"If only we knew it."

Zelda was not used to seeing her champion look so defeated. She remembered watching in horror as he came staggering, beaten and exhausted, from the great doors of a Temple, but Link always had a smile on his face. Even after Morpha has tossed him around, giving him more than a few broken ribs and a nasty headache, he had smiled and was glad to see that Sheik had been there, waiting for him. But this defeat that he wore on his handsome face now, this frustration...it did not suit him.

"Don't get discouraged, Link," she told him as she sat down beside him, looking at him with worried lavender eyes. "We will find a way out of this somehow. The Goddesses brought you home for a reason, and we will figure out what it is that Terinae is hiding from us before he can figure out what we are hiding from him. We will win this one, Link. I know we can..."

"It's not that..." he muttered putting his head into one gauntleted hand. "I just feel that I should have done it by now. I'm no good at this whole 'intrigue' thing. Maybe all I can do is just fight monsters. Maybe that's all a lowly peasant like me--"

"Stop that right now!" Zelda commanded, suddenly furious. "Don't let such thoughts into your head for one minute, do you hear me? Oh all the talk around this vile place has gotten to you, hasn't it? All the lies people tell themselves just to feel better about who they are. They're not true. Each and every person in this kingdom is just as good as the rest. Whether they are born in a castle or on a farm...it makes absolutely no difference. Each person has the same amount of potential when they are born and they can only be judged according to what they make or do not make of themselves."

Link couldn't help but be impressed by her words and their effectiveness on his thoughts. "You know, Zelda, you really are very wise."

She sighed. "My father was. It was what made him a good King. He taught me that and made sure I believed it, as uncommon as such an opinion is around here. I still believe what he taught me, though, and I will not forget it."

"I wish I could have known your father. I used to be afraid of him, back when we were children. The thought of ever meeting him sacred me more than any Moblin ever could," Link admitted.

"I wish you could have met him too. He would have liked you, regardless of who I told him you were. I've had to lose him twice, but all I want to do is make sure that he does not die completely. That's why I've been fighting this occupation. It's not so much that I want to be Queen, but rather that my father should still be King, and there is no one else but me to replace him. Unfortunately, as much as the people loved my father, they do not wish to pass that love completely on to me, or the crown..."

"And so Hyrule brings tyranny upon itself..." Link chimed in, now leaving them both looking downtrodden.

"...Tyranny..." Zelda said skeptically. "Tyranny...It's almost funny how similar it sounds to Terinae..."

Link puzzled it out to himself under his breath. It almost did sound like they were the same word.

Zelda's head shot up and her eyes, raging with their mischievous fire again, caught his in a silent shout of joy. "Link! Maybe there is something to be said for names! Terinae is so concerned over yours, but in all of that, we've never once thought about his! Terinae, tyranny, they are one in the same! And his generals! Do you know their names?"

"Not all of them..."

"His right hand man, though, what about him?"

"Oh, that's...Plake. I always thought it was a strange name, but what are you getting at?" Link wondered, still unsure as to why she seemed suddenly enlightened.

"Plake, plague! The other one. The man who's in charge over in Karkariko! His name is Hatren. Hatren, hatred! All of the important men in his army, at least all the names I can recall, they all sound like something! This has to be important..." Zelda once again racked her brain, but this time with all the excitement of a dog on a trail.

Link couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "So Tyranny, Plague, and Hatred descend upon the land with many other things, probably just as evil. Sounds like something right out of a prophecy..."

Zelda then quickly turned and fixed her eyes on him, looking as if he had said something of significance, rather than an attempt at slight humor. "That's it! I've heard something like that before. I swear I have!" She then rapidly stood up, leaving Link to duck to avoid the mass of skirts that followed her. "Come on! We're going to my library! I need you to help me look over the Book of Modura!"

"But why that? Isn't that just a book of prayers?" Link asked, though he still rose as she told him to and got ready to follow.

"Not exactly. I should have showed you before. Its passages speak of the Goddesses, the past, and the future, all in one. You should see what it says about you!" she exclaimed, but by that time, they were already flying down the stairs like two wild children again.

"About me? What? What do you mean, Zelda?"

Link, of course, couldn't get much else in, because he was amazed at the fact that he could hardly keep up with the Princess.

"One day, after you left," she explained as the ran through the maze of a castle, "I found myself bored and stuck in the library. I was just browsing through the Book of Modura when I read a very familiar story, or rather, a short ballad poem. The book is written in Ancient Hylian verse, but I can read that. It spoke of a Hero of Time, Seven Sages, and a King of Evil...all of it. From what I can guess, the entire history of the world is there, yet to be understood simply because it has not already happened."

"So...then you could read it and know the future?" Link questioned, confused and just slightly fatigued from all the running around he'd been doing since he'd come to the castle.

"No, no. It's very vague and almost unintelligible. We can only piece together the things that have happened in the past because we know about them and can recognize them. That's why I haven't thought of this until now..."

The pair quickly entered Zelda's chambers and went into her private library, a room Link found much less intimidating than her bedchamber. Not necessarily expansive, the rectangular room had two great shelves on either long side of the room, with a door and a small hearth taking up the smaller sides. By the hearth were two chairs and a small table, the only other furniture in the relatively small room. Zelda swiftly found the great volume, probably due to its enormous size, and set upon the table by the hearth. 

"I guess it would be after the little bit about us..." she murmured, flipping through the gold-edged pages. 

Link immediately started going dizzy at the sight of all the complex Ancient Hylian runes. "You can actually read that?" he asked, astonished that his ancestors had invented such a convoluted script. 

"It's not as bad as it looks," she told him, then exclaimed, "Here! This is the spot!" Zelda scanned the page over quickly, while Link looked on dumbly over her shoulder, wishing he could read the ancient words as well. 

She then read it aloud. 

"Tyranny reigns upon the crown,

Whilst all the world remains unknowing,

That in fact there is a treachery beyond,

What mortal eyes might see.

All the world may turn upside down,

So that hell may reign upon the crown.

All this be true if Tyranny reigns.

Tyranny must not reign for long. 

Call upon the oldest powers known,

Call upon the wisest and the lion,

Call not upon the powerful,

Lest ye call upon Tyranny again."

"Is there anything after that?" Link inquired, hoping that the passage made more sense to her than it did to him.

"No. It starts on a hymn to Nayru. Stupid old book..." Zelda sighed and shut the massive volume.

"Well, all I know is that the Goddesses dislike Terinae as much as I do. If only they could tell us how to get rid of him." Link walked towards the hearth, peering into the dying embers of what had once been a fire, hoping they would yield a better answer. 

"We're supposed to take care of it. I guess I would be the 'wisest' and you would be the 'lion' part of it. I have no idea what that whole business about Ganondorf was though..."

"'Lest ye call Tyranny again'... but he's not Ganondorf. I know he's not," Link affirmed.

"Of course he's not. He must have some connection to him, though. It's got to be that."

"But how would an Emperor, who never set foot in Hyrule before he came along to usurp it, be connected to a man that, for all the rest of the world knows, disappeared more five years before he came?"

Zelda walked up beside him. "And that, is the question we must answer. I think then we might know."

"I'm no good at this..." Link started again, looking at his boots. 

"Sure you are, Link. You puzzled half that thing out, just as much as I. Surely you have faced greater challenges of the mind than that," she assured him, laying a comforting hand on his arm.

"Mazes are not riddles. Monsters are not Emperors," he stated. "I am out of my element, and I apologize. I only wish I could be more helpful."

"Element or no, the Goddesses meant for you to come home and to help Hyrule once again, Link. It says it right in that book. You are better at this, not just riddles and Emperors, but this...place...than you think you are. You have won the favor of many an important man since you've come here, and I think that is proof enough that there is more to you than a boy with a sword."

"But it's all fake. The Goddesses themselves may call me a lion like all the Knights and nobles do, but I am not. I'm just a boy with a sword, really, who got lucky way too many times. I am no son of a Knight, or a Red Lion, or anything. It's not that I have to be, or that I want to, but it's really that I am not and I say that I am. Does that make sense?" he sighed, finally letting his gaze turn to Zelda's.

"Perfect sense. I know you don't wish to lie like this. I think it wrong too, to deceive people, but you are doing it to help them, right? That's all that matters isn't it?" 

Somehow, those lavender eyes always calmed him. It must've have been her magic, or just the magic of her. "You're right. You always are."  
  


Zelda smiled, tightening her grip on his arm. 

"I can never lie to you, though," he told her gratefully. 

"It's good to know that there is at least one honest man in Hyrule Castle."

Link then turned so that he was facing Zelda completely. "And I will never lie to you. So I can't leave without thanking you again. You always know how to soothe my mind."

It was only by the spark of sheer electricity that flew threw him that Link realized what happened then. The Princess, that he just come to understand how important she was to him and to how he felt, was in his arms, embracing him tightly. Though jolted, shocked, but otherwise pleasantly surprised, Link could only do the favor of putting his arms tightly around her as well. In this, he was completely soothed, and realized that he never wanted such a thing to end. 

Of course, it had to. Zelda slipped out of his grasp, looking somewhat ashamed for letting herself get carried away. "I'm sorry, Link. I just...It's so rare...I mean...I've never..." she trailed off.

"It's all right. It's more than all right," he told her, one arm still around her waist as proof. 

"I...Take care of yourself, Link. For the love of all three Goddesses take care of yourself. I'd really be miserable without you, even if Hyrule was at peace and my father was still alive. I had always wished you would come back," Zelda confessed, gaining a little more control over her emotions, as she was taught a Princess should have.

"You've no idea how glad I am to be back. It's late, though, and I'm sure that somewhere out there, someone is wondering why we have not yet gone to bed."

"You're right. Goodnight, Link," she said, looking at him with eyes that spoke plainly that she did not want him to go.

Link knew, despite the fact that his eyes probably said the same thing, that he had to, for now. "Goodnight, sweet Princess."

Link was damn tired of having to be in the minds of his enemies instead of those he loved. Damn tired.

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\


	15. Fifteenth

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

Complain about the (lack of) updating...and I...I'll be annoyed. shakes a fist

Summer strolled tediously into the halls of Hyrule Castle. With spring's delicate air gone, the world seemed to take on a more determined mood, and there was no exception among the politics of Hyrule. The Princess Zelda still baffled the Emperor Terinae, who still held her throne within his ever-so innocent-seeming grasp, and the Squire Link continued to gain immense favor in the court, particularly amongst those loyal to Zelda. In those who were loyal to Terinae, mostly his generals and a few easily swayed Hylians, he gained only enemies, but he was not to be bothered. Terinae and his men made it a point to avoid the young man that stood in such high regards of Hyrule's rightful ruler, but the hero knew that behind his back, the men did nothing but follow his every move. Terinae didn't just dislike him and his relationship with Zelda, he suspected something of him, but no one could tell Link what that something was.

It was frustrating to say the least. Half the time he felt as if he were fighting a battle that would never end, and never could. He trained relentlessly with the Old Knights during the days, pounding on training dummies and posts with a vivid rage. It reminded him of Dark Link, and how the shadow always either copied or evaded his attacks because the shadow already knew them. Though, this time, Link did not have a hammer to use against the Emperor and his lies.

The other half of the time, though, Link began to relish. He found himself unexpectedly starting to enjoy life in the castle, something he had never dreamed of. He had come there a wanderer, in search of something familiar, but with no intention of permanence. He had always supposed that he would go see Zelda and Hyrule again, make sure everything was all right, and wander off again. It was his nature, or so he had thought, to seek out new lands, but in the castle he found himself fitting in. That was a luxury and a rarity for link, who had always been singled out for something. The Kokiri despised his fairylessness, and though he later knew it was because he was a Hylian, it still singled him out. Among the Hylians, once he had left the Kokiri, people were generally confused by him, seeing as he still dressed as though he were from the forest.

It was in this lie, and within Zelda's ever watchful gaze, that he blossomed. People liked him and associated freely with him. Link had never had a problem with women, seeing as he was one of the better-looking Hylians in the world, but the ladies of the court certainly seemed to whisper a lot in his presence. He'd even caught a few young men walking around wearing hats similar to his own, and it made the hero crack a smile now in then, at seeing his own impact on Hylian high society in plain view.

After all, he was just a commoner, an orphan even. No one knew of his former heroics, but that didn't matter. He was already a hero in the castle, just by showing up and creating another diversion. And besides, it was here that he could be with Zelda.

It seemed nearly every night now that he came to her study and sat with her. Usually, she would be pouring over ancient texts, searching prophecy and history for clues on their situation, and he, unable to read the ancient language, would just enjoy her company, and often make her work rather impossible, though that never seemed to bother either of them.

Lately, though, on the hot nights when they often retreated to his room for the greater amount of breezes that filtered into its high windows, Zelda had set upon teaching him Ancient Hylian, and though he had never really been much for lessons, Link was picking it up quickly. But none of that really mattered to him. He was with Zelda, and that was what mattered. Link stopped noticing the whispers of the other ladies of court, and the jests the other young men made with him about said whispers. He had the night, the large book that sat half on his lap, half on hers, and the sweet sound of her voice trying, but failing to make an excuse to keep his company. They would laugh and 'flirt' as the nobles called it, and never end up getting too much done.

Calandra, though, would often spoil this. She brought the two halves of Link's life in Hyrule Castle together with a violent ferocity. She would report of Terinae's doings, none of them leading to any conclusions, and frustration would break into the comfort Link found in his Princess. She too would get angry and blame herself as he blamed himself. They would end up going their separate ways unhappy and hating the fact that two halves indeed must make a whole.

It was this way for the first summer month, and nothing ever changed.

That is, until Link found himself in the Knight's Den, waiting with his masters for Zelda to arrive so that he might escort her as he always did. The Princess arrived, looking very different than she usually did. Link immediately knew that something had happened, and quickly went over to her and away from the otherwise oblivious Knights, who were adamantly discussing and arguing about some old battle.

"What is it, Zelda?" he asked, taking a hold of her hands, "What's wrong?"

"Calandra just told me," she explained. "Terinae is going to move his army back into Castle Town. He's going to do something, Link, otherwise he would keep them in Kakariko. As if I needed to hear anymore about it, Impa contacted me right after Calandra went off again and said the same thing. I knew he was talking about it vaguely with his men, but I never thought he'd do it. Something big is going to happen in the next week, and I have no idea what. This does not bode well."

Link nodded grudgingly. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Nothing that we aren't already doing." Zelda sighed. "I used to think I was good at this game."

"You still are," Link reassured her. "You've just met a tough match."

She didn't reply to that. "Not a word at dinner."

"I know," Link responded simply, though he was confused by her. He instead offered her his arm, in hopes that the traditional aspect of dinner at Hyrule Castle would calm her down a little. Zelda was too nervous about this, though, for him to be anything near calm. He hid it well, though.

They marched off to dinner and Terinae sneered at the Princess and her escort as he usually did. To anyone else, it seemed still as if nothing had changed. The dinner guests did not know that the Princess was racking her brains for reasons between the small talk, and they did not notice that the much esteemed young Squire of the House of Red Lions barely touched his food.

No lessons tonight... Link thought to himself as he pushed around the roast cucco on his plate.

He couldn't forget that he was still fighting, but truly, he wished that there were no halves to the day, and perhaps, the day would only consist of the few hours he spent with Zelda. He was more worried about her than what Terinae's move meant.

After and excruciatingly long dinner for both parties, Link promptly excused himself from spending any time in the Den with the Old Knights. The men were baffled then, but understood on some level. Indeed, Link knew, they would soon get word of Terinae's move as well, and would break it down and argue over it from a military standpoint. He would be glad to be with a worried Zelda, and not a bunch of angry old men that night.

Calandra admitted him as she always did and then left for her nightly eavesdropping. Link shed his coat on the back of a chair in Zelda's little foyer and then let himself into the small study. He walked in concerned and his reason for being so sat in front of him, looking as if she had not slept in days. He understood that Zelda's kingdom hinged on Terinae's actions, and that was all very severe and such, but he wondered if she was making too much of this. It hurt him, obviously, to see her so worked up.

He approached her silently, but she interrupted his steady steps. "Impa is coming back to the castle. She should arrive some time tonight."

"Well, that would make sense, seeing as you will need her more than Kakariko does now," he responded, trying to be as optimistic as possible to ease her.

"The Three are really trying me, Link. I think perhaps I should just give Hyrule to Terinae and then just flee off to some wild place. Wouldn't that be nice?" Zelda spoke this all with an enraged, yet somehow flat voice, her eyes never moving from the page she studied.

"No. It would be wrong. Hyrule is yours, not that conniving bastard's! Regardless, Zelda, please, just calm down a little for now," he pleaded with her.

"If I stop, then I give Hyrule to him."

"Even just for a minute or two?"

"There isn't time."

Link knew about time, certainly. He had seen the stream of it with his own eyes, felt its cool rush upon his body as he flew through it, but because of this, he didn't know time like others did.

"If I could make time for you, I would. The Three should have given me time, after all I have done," he chuckled, again trying to lighten the mood.

Finally, Zelda's hurried visage cracked and she allowed herself to sigh. "It would be nice, to make time...to have an extra hour in which only you lived."

"Indeed," Link agreed, and finally moved to stand over her chair, placing a friendly pair of hands onto her tense shoulders.

"I'm sorry if I've been crazy about this," Zelda apologized, looking up from her book. "I just want to be ready for whatever is thrown at me."

"I understand that," Link told her. "It's just that you might be making too much of it."

"Possibly," she confided.

"It's not too hard to make time. You just have to pretend that nothing else matters but what you want, and then you have to stop pretending that, of course, but the hour in-between is nice," he said. "I was once in this strange place called Termina, where the moon was going to crash down upon the entire land in three days. It's a beautiful place, near the ocean, with diverse terrain like Hyrule. In fact, it is very much like Hyrule, but still very different. Anyway, dispite the urgency of the problem, I seemed to find time in Termina. I once went swimming in that gorgeous ocean for an entire day, but then again, I could start time over there."

"Start time over?" Zelda inquired, obviously intrigued by his tale.

"At first, when I first came there that is, I didn't know how to. The Skull Kid that was responsible for the moon's falling stole the Ocarina of Time from me, and lured me into Termina. It was when I got it back from him that I suddenly remembered when I last saw you. You played the Song of Time, saying it reminded you of us, and then gave the Ocarina to me. And then, when I played the song in Termina, the entire place reset itself back to the way it was three days before, and I was able to stop the moon from falling."

"I'm glad," she responded, now openly and calmly smiling up at him. "That song does remind me of us, though, in many ways. It would be nice, though if you could use it to send us back to before Terinae came here..."

Link chuckled slightly to himself then gently hummed the short tune. Upon seeing no effect besides Zelda's getting up from her chair, he promptly replied, "I guess it doesn't work that way."

She just laughed in return and slid one arm around his shoulders. "Thank you, Link. I think I was a bit too worked up."

He pulled her into a light embrace, careful not to break her calm. "You're much better company this way."

As she retreated from the hug, Zelda looked back down at her book. It was one she had been perusing quite often, since they had found the book of Mudora too cryptic. This was a book of ancient prophecy set down by the first Hylian King, who, like his granddaughter of many greets, was also gifted with prophetic dreams. They often made little sense or pertained to things that had already past, but it was another place to look, another possible answer hidden like a cucco feather in a haystack.

Link followed her gaze. "'When all else'...hmm..." he attempted to read from the bottom of the open page, but stumbled upon an unfamiliar word in the scrawling Ancient Hylian script.

"'When all else fails to tell light from dark, the mirror tells all,'" Zelda finished for him. "He dreamt of a masked man that went about committing silent wrongs in the night, and during the day he was known as an upstanding citizen. Only he knew of the man's crimes, yet the people would not listen to him. The old King then saw a mirror rise from the west after the sun had set, and he brought it to the man's face, allowing the people to see through his mask."

Link moved closer to the book and skimmed the words over once more, trying to see if he could get the gist of the story from the book itself and apply his new knowledge. "Sounds more like a fable than a prophecy," he commented.

"Yes," the Princess agreed, "But it's one of the more interesting and understandable visions. I keep coming back to it, mostly out of boredom," she admitted.

"Well...I'll get a magic mirror if I ever need to prove that I'm not crazy," Link told her with a grin.

Zelda pushed him playfully, to no effect of course, and grinned herself.

"You need to go walk with me," he told her plainly, pressing back the urge to push her as well.

"Aren't I supposed to be the royalty around here?" she demanded, sounding as snobby as she could. "I'm supposed be giving you the orders."

"Well then, Milady, I am truly sorry," Link said as he mockingly bowed and backed away, looking as ashamed as he could.

"Of course, Master Squire, you do realize that this means you shall have to do my bidding for an entire hour, to rectify this vile offense."

"I shall do whatever you deem necessary, Highness." Link could hardly keep a straight face, but he did.

"Then accompany me to the gardens, Master Squire. Should some low creature attack me while I complain about everything and pick at my roses, I should need you to defend my completely helpless yet utterly royal being." Zelda's voice dripped with wit and sarcasm, as well as much needed relief.

After that was said, neither could help it, and they both burst out laughing at their own antics.

"If her Highness...wishes so..." Link managed to get out between boughts of laughter, and offered her his arm.

Without even a thought of the Emperor in her mind then, Zelda promptly took his arm and set the off on a course towards the gardens. She and Link strolled around the hedges there, just idly chatting, trying to get their minds off the situation at hand. However, they did not expect company down in the darkened gardens.

Damen met them as they came upon one of the many fountains. It seemed as if he had known to come there. "Link," he addressed his pupil, "May I speak with you? No need for you to leave, Milady. I only ask that you spare him for a moment."

Link, in fact, had not spoken to Damen, nor even seen him for nearly a week. He saw the other Knights almost daily, what with history, swordplay, and chivalry lessons, but Damen was always away. He was no ambassador, no diplomat of any kind, and Link could not guess what role he played that would require him to be away for many days at a time, but he was.

"Of course," the hero responded to his "uncle".

"I will be frank and short," Damen began, looking grave as he did for exactly half of the time he spoke, while the other half he was practically jovial during. "Terinae does not like you, of this I'm sure you know. He researches in vain about your past, and of this you also know, but you do not know this. I've seen a strange thing concerning you and the Emperor. I believe him to be some sort of wizard, and though many people in the castle say that this belief is rooted in rumor and general superstition, I do not think so. Terinae has fourteen servants, just for himself, and most were once very able men. These men come to their beds after a day's work looking utterly drained and more exhausted than an over-worked oarsman. This was proof enough for me before.

"But, what this wizardry has to do with you is perhaps stranger. I chanced upon Terinae last night, since I had come home very late. I was going to my room and saw a flash from the south wing. I looked down the hall to see what it was, and there was one of Terinae's servants, looking like a man possessed. The Emperor himself stood over this man, who was writhing and muttering upon the stone floor, kept mildly under control by one of the round-eared soldiers that stands at Terinae's door.

"The man then said, loudly enough for me to hear, 'I see that the boy can see. He can know. He does not know yet, but he can. The lies that are truths and the truths that are lies are drawn to him. Linked together, they call upon him.' The man went silent and his eyes rolled back into his head, though he still continued to writhe. Terinae badgered him to speak more and to give details, but the man then stopped moving.

"The Emperor told his guard to haul the man bodily back into his chambers, since it appeared he couldn't tell him what he needed to know once again. They all went back in, and then I waited for a while, just to see if anyone would appear again, but they did not, so I went to my own chambers. I believe, though this is a guess, that you were the subject of that particular raving, Link."

Link himself was still trying to see how the words related to him.

Zelda, however, interjected, "It seems that we are not the only ones seeking answers in prophecy, though I know better than to make a prophet myself." Anger did not just hint in her voice, but burned within it. "He is harming the people of my own castle to plot against me, Damen. I cannot have this."

"Aye, Milady, I know this cannot be good," the Old Knight agreed.

"'See' what?" Link thought aloud.

Damen grunted. "That's the question indeed."

"It's only a matter of time before one of us finds out what these things mean. The first one to figure it out will be the first one to know how to defeat the other side," Zelda rationalized.

"With that, Milady, I will tell you that upon my last visit to Kakariko, I informed Lady Impa of your request for Sheikah prophecy. I've no doubt that she is now personally bringing it to you," Damen reported.

Apparently, he was much more important than Link thought, and much more knowledgeable of what exactly was going on. The Old Knight has been going to Kakariko, so he must have known of the move, and of any other things that went on with Terinae's actual army. Though Impa was a fine enough connection for Zelda to the town, Link supposed it was good for her to have another man to give her another view of the situation as well.

"Thank you, Sir Damen. I'm sure that she is," Zelda told him, though her eyes were now wandering with other thoughts.

He bowed slightly to her and then nodded to Link, then left them without any further word.

The lighter mood that had been present for the last little part of the evening was now overshadowed with even more cryptic news.

"When does it end?" Link found himself asking no one in particular as he sat down on the edge of the fountain.

"It should never have begun," Zelda replied, sitting next to him and putting her head in her hands.

"Now you know it could not be prevented, or else you would have done so," Link reassured her. "The bastard just keeps getting more mysterious the more we try to find his weakness."

Zelda sighed. "Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place..."

"Perhaps," Link half-heartedly agreed, feeling overall let down that night.

"Perhaps it...will never end..." Zelda stated, her tone defeated and caught in her throat.

Link had no response. He sat, looking straight ahead into the wall of stone that lay before him, that is, until he heard her crying.

Zelda was not one to cry, she never had been. Though tragedy had constantly befallen her, she had never let herself, or her enemy, take pleasure in any weakness. She was stubborn and strong-willed, and it was what had kept her alive many times, but she was losing hope in this fight. She did not know what to do anymore, and if she did not know, then surely no one else would. She felt helpless, frustrated, and useless in this war.

Link instinctively slipped the defeated Princess into a comforting embrace. He knew enough not to tell her to stop her tears. She was under too much stress to deny her emotions. He only offered her a shoulder to cry on, and she was glad to accept.

Zelda, who had lost her beloved father twice, who had sent away her closest companion and fellow sage to keep her kingdom together, at least had her hero to steady her.

"I am sorry," she whispered as she pulled herself together.

"No need to be," Link reassured her, patting her back to emphasize his point.

"I should not be crying over this. I should be strong in the face of adversity," she told him, still clinging tightly to his tunic.

"That's my job, not yours," he told her simply. Link truly felt at home once again serving Zelda as he had before, but now, being so close with her and so close to her, he felt even more in place. Perhaps, if he held her away from Terinae, the Emperor would have no choice but to give up, for he would not get to Zelda without going through the Hero of Time.

Zelda, of course, was more than delighted to have a true friend, but she knew Link was different. Not only would he protect her and help her with a tenacious loyalty that knew no other master...but...

Link found himself suddenly smiling. He had made a realization. A lonely traveler such as himself, though admired as he was, had only heard tales of romance and all of that sort. He had never afforded himself the opportunity to know true attachment to much of anything. _So this is love_, he mused, having finally found the answer to a riddle of equal importance that had trodden on his mind during the time he spent with the Princess. And once he had found his answer, there, as she was warm in his arms, he couldn't help but somehow be amused.

And Zelda too, knew that she could not simply regard him as a friend or another man that served her cause. She pulled away from his just slightly so that her head was now level with his, and off of his shoulder. Staring into his moonlit blue eyes, looking at the little bemused smile upon his face, Zelda could only think of one appropriate action that would express how she felt.

Their lips brushed just slightly against each other, it seemed, and though both were elated at the meeting, it was abruptly ended.

"Dreadfully sorry to interrupt anything," came a voice that Link had not heard in a very long time.

The two young Hylians nearly fell from their embrace straight into the fountain at the sight of Impa staring down at them.

Needless to say, the old Sheikah nursemaid laughed, and laughed.

Zelda regained her composure with royal speed. With one embarrassed glance in Link's direction, she swiftly put on her best offended face and asked Impa, "Well, are you going to tell me I'm a bad girl now?"

Link, however, was already too terrified to speak. He had faced many a monster, but never before had he been caught kissing royalty by the most intimidating woman in all of Hyrule.

Impa let out a sigh to end her laughter and regarded the two Hylians with a beaming smile that seemed uncharacteristic of the evening. "Not now, Zelda, but when I won't wake the whole castle with a proper tirade," the Sheikah woman joked, then turned to Link. "Welcome back to Hyrule, Link. I trust you are enjoying life in the castle."

He nodded only, for fear that any comment might lead him to death's door.

"I've scared him mute," Impa noted, and chuckled again.

"For your information, Impa," Zelda told her vehemently, "Your interruption came at a very bad time..."

"Ah, I suppose," she retorted, "But I believe that you would be perfectly willing to be interrupted at any time for these." With that, Impa pulled out a handful of small scrolls from the satchel she had been carrying.

"You found them!" Zelda exclaimed immediately and sprang from her seat to take the scrolls like a greedy child hungry for sweets.

While Zelda examined the old things, Impa nodded towards Link once more, who was now beginning to realize that the Sheikah bodyguard was no intent on his death at the present time. "These are the very scrolls that led Zelda to find out you were the Hero of Time," she imparted on to him.

"Oh..." Link said slowly as he rose. "I suppose I should greet you as well, Impa, seeing as it's been seven years."

"You're not so different from the last time I saw you in these gardens, granted, you have certainly grown. How do you fare, hero?" Impa asked.

"Well. Well enough I suppose," he replied.

Link could see that it was going to be a very long night.

Seeing as this is what all the cool kids are doing, I'm going to be responding to any questions, or particularly intriguing comments I find in my reviews. This means not everybody. I barely have time to write, let alone respond to everything.

**LunaticChaos:** I hate to say it, no wait, I really don't, but Oni Link will not make an appearance in this fic or in any Zelda fic I write. I find him cheap and really uninteresting, but good try there. Keep on trying to figure it out, but at this point, if you do get it, you definitely deserve a cookie.

**ignorantly grinning:** Yup, I did spell Mudora wrong. I was just guessing at the spelling, seeing as I was too lazy to go start up LttP to find out the right spelling. I've also misspelled Kakariko a lot. Once I get less lazy, I'll be going through that sort of thing with QuickEdit.

**parry:** grins I suppose that wasn't how you'd wanted it, but the comedy entrance by Impa was too much to resist.

And to all readers, be relieved, it's summer. High school is finally over for me, and all I have is a ten day trip and work to get in the way of writing. I will be gone for most of June, but expect another chapter or two in July. I think this is going to end up being somewhere between 20 and 25 chapters long.

Also, shortly after this fic is finished, I will release the first parts of another Zelda fic I have in the works that is much, much different from this.

But until then, keep your eyes peeled. You may be able to figure out the mystery for yourself, but if you can't then don't worry. That's what the final chapter is for. :p

Oh yea, and thanks for reading. Heh.

/ /

/ / Blue Taboo / /


	16. Sixteenth

You Wish! Productions presents…

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of 

Celebrating over one year of TMTA and being nowhere near done…here's chapter 16.

Needless to say, the walk up to Zelda's study was very awkward. The young Hylians were silent. Zelda was enraptured with the scrolls that had once brought her long-awaited salvation and seemed to promise to deliver it once again, though she was beginning to hate Impa for her timing in bringing them. Link, of course, had to deal with the discomfort brought on by being found kissing the Princess of Hyrule by quite possibly the worst person to witness such at thing, or so he thought.

Impa, alive with the night and the sight of familiar faces and places, could have really cared less. She was in good spirits, despite the ominous events that had brought her to the castle that night. She was even more amused by Link. Zelda had long ago informed her of the hero's return to Hyrule and of how he was assisting her in her plot to regain the throne, so Impa knew to expect him. Despite the fact that he had indeed grown properly in the last seven years, Impa still noted the endearing naiveté that he had possessed had not faded completely from him. Her grin only served to make his blushing and awkward silence extend longer as they reached the study.

Zelda had already unbound the old velum and immediately laid out the Sheikah prophecies on the table and began to pour over them.

Link, now completely forgotten, got another explanation from Impa. She said, "Sheikah wisdom is highly regarded amongst scholars throughout Hyrule as being the best, but it is also very dangerous because of that. There's no telling what someone might find in these words, or who that someone might be, so it must be protected. These scrolls are available only to the Royal Family of Hyrule, or made accessible to others only by their permission. Otherwise, I see that they are safe within the Shadow Temple itself."

"No one will want to go looking for them in there, that's for sure…" Link commented, remembering that hauntingly shocking place.

"Well, beforehand," the nursemaid went on, "My ancestors hid them within the well, or in tombs. It's said these scrolls have thousands of years worth of predictions in them." She then turned to Zelda. "Do you remember where you found the last one? I assume that would be a good place to start from…"

"That's likely," Zelda replied, still keeping her eyes on the aging velum. "I think this is it," she said after a while, pointing to the middle of the second scroll she had unrolled.

Link and Impa simultaneously went to her side. Link had expected to see yet another script of strange language he could not read, but he was surprised to find it in clear, modern Hylian.

"'One on a high mountain…'" he read aloud, then let out a small chuckle. "Memory doesn't lie. Sheik told me these words when I entered the Temple of Time again as a man." He let his gaze drift to Zelda, who finally lifted her eyes from the words to meet his. She smiled knowingly.

"I figured it was best to give you the prophecy in the exact words I read. You probably hated Sheik for being so cryptic, but it was the clearest I could be," she confessed.

"You were easier to interpret than politics. Does this stuff go in order?" Link inquired, looking away from his Princess and over more of the words that had guided his forgotten journey.

"I'm not sure," Impa told them both. "I would assume, though, if there was anything contained within these scrolls about this struggle, that it would be nearby, seeing as it involves a few of the same people."

Link left the second scroll behind after he had recognized all it had to tell him. He and Zelda went to the third one together, leaving Impa to her own devices.

It dawned on the old Sheikah then, as she gazed upon the two young saviors of Hyrule, that what she was looking at were not the same two people she had seen saving the world last time. Link, in his fancy clothing, was certainly different, and outwardly so. He had retained a little of his boyish ignorance, but here was a young man that had indeed grown up. Zelda, of course, she was used to seeing decked in rich fabric and high style, but this was a young ruler, not so much a Princess but already a Queen…one that was beginning to feel the weight of the kingdom upon her shoulders very early in life. Together they seemed very much a Queen and her trusted young Knight, though perhaps a little more than that to the discerning eye. Impa already knew, even though she had been absent long before Link's return, that the charade they were currently putting on was widely accepted.

"Not this again!" Zelda exclaimed with a sigh of frustration, breaking the old Sheikah from her musings.

"What is it?" the older woman questioned.

"More riddles about mirrors," she answered. To Impa's then confused look she offered, "We were looking over another book of prophecy today, set down by a Hylian king. One of his ravings was about this mirror, and it looks much too similar to this."

Link read the section in question aloud for all to hear. "When two times coincide, and a rift is once again bridged, there will be wicked and worthy. The eye will not see it, nor will your eyes, but bring it to the mirror. When all else fails to tell dark from light, the mirror tells all."

"Well," Impa began, "I believe we should have more concern for mirrors then. Obviously, the part about the two times is referring to this world after Ganon. I think it even alludes to the eye of truth."

"It's not like we don't know who our enemy is, though," Link pointed out, sitting with a pondering frown on his face while Zelda stood above him, still scanning the scroll.

"Perhaps it means something other than that," the elder Sage intoned.

They talked for what seemed the entire night of what every possible word might mean. It made Link's head swim by the time Calandra came in and informed them all that the sun would soon rise. So as not to insight an unneeded gossip, Link left through the secret passage to his room, and Impa opted to return to her usual bedchamber in Zelda's sprawling apartments. The hero fell right into bed once he got to his room. Apparently, it took all of Vesta's strength to wake him a few hours later.

He groggily got out from underneath the covers in order to stop his little servant's constant shaking.

"Finally awake!" she observed much too loudly. "Shall I go get your breakfast then?"

Link groaned in response, then added, "Please ask the cook if she'd make me some very strong tea…"

"Bad night?"

"You could say that…" Link replied simply, and began to fumble towards the wash water she'd brought for him.

The servant girl left with a giggle at the less-than-charming state of her charge.

The previous night would have been a very good night for Link, if only Impa had opted to spend it away from Hyrule Castle. Just when he had finally gotten the chance to…

He suddenly became very worried. Link splashed his face with water a few times in a vain attempt to wake himself further. Although his body remained sluggish, his brain was already going at full speed. What would Zelda think of him, spending that whole night trying to think of what mirror could possibly mean and not giving any sort of explanation? Surely, she'd be angry with him. Then again, didn't she take to those scrolls in just the same way, completely forgetting about their little rendezvous by the fountain? Did that mean she wanted nothing to do with him like that?

Link sighed. Love and prophecy…he couldn't decide which was harder to figure out or measure clearly. Love, however, was a very nice thing, certainly better than harsh destinies and heroic quests.

Eventually, after a few cups of horribly bitter but very much needed tea, and his usual hearty breakfast, Link was awake enough to face another day of conspiracies and intrigue. He went to meet with Cortain for history lessons in the library and was thankful it was not his day to train with Banon.

Link wandered into the vast library in the northern wing. He believed it to be on the second floor of the massive castle, but he still couldn't be sure. Its ceilings were vaulted high enough to allow towering shelves of tomes and various volumes so tall that one had to climb up a ladder to get at whatever knowledge one wanted. All was usual in that place, quietness being dominant over all things, but Sir Cortain was not in his usual spot. Link was left to puzzle for only a few moments, before someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

He whirled around to find the Princess herself looking up at him. Needless to say, Link was surprised and slightly horrified. He had hoped to talk to her…much later in that day.

Zelda, however royal, was not accustomed to waiting. "I told Sir Cortain to let me handle this lesson for today."

Link, failing to derive any possibly positive meaning from that statement just nodded in acknowledgement and then noted that the library was completely empty.

Only then did Zelda sense his apprehension. "I'm not here to…to denounce what happened yesterday…" she managed to get out.

The hero was then slightly less on edge, but he knew a confrontation when he saw one. "Then what are you here for?" he asked plainly.

Zelda was silent for a moment and could not meet his gaze. "Not to denounce…but rather to discuss…"

Awkward silence pervaded the dusty place for a moment as both cast their gazes to the floor, fighting the urge to blush furiously at the mention of their being caught by Impa.

"Look—"

"I just want to say—"

They interrupted each other and caused Link to finally hold up a hand in frustration. "We're getting nowhere this way," he observed. "If there's something you wanted to say to me then just say it. Please Zelda…even if you think it might hurt me."

"Actually, I wanted to ask you a question," she informed, trying hard to keep her rigid gaze on him.

"Then ask it." Despite his nervousness, the hero forced a warm smile.

"Are you upset with me for kissing you?" she blurted out all in one breath and then added, "Goddesses, I feel like a child for saying that."

"I'm not upset with you at all, and you are not childish for asking. Well, you could say I'm the opposite of upset…I was thrilled," Link confessed, though a great deal slower than the Princess.

Zelda looked very relieved, but became inquisitive again in a matter of half a moment. However, this time she had a genuine smile on her lips. "Thrilled?"

"Well…uh…" and thus came the part of life that the great Hero of Time had not mastered in his near 18 years.

Zelda had to laugh. Now that she was in control, she had quickly become completely relaxed. She took a confused and stiff-looking Link by the elbow and sat him down on one of the cushioned seats on the sills of the long windows that filtered the warm light of summer into the great room. She sat next to him and promptly explained with even more relief, "There's no need for you to be shy about it. It's not like I don't have any feelings for you. I have, Link, for the longest time, but you and I have had the peculiar circumstance of always being around one another when we are in some sort of danger. There's never been time for either of us to…say or do anything about it…"

"Hence why you told off Cortain…to make time," he concluded.

"There was a need for it," she said simply.

"All right then. I suppose you know now that I certainly have feelings for you, but I thought you had always known that, well not always but…"

"Throughout different places and times lived it makes it difficult to sort out things," she told him, "but I know what you mean. Link, I've known ever since a certain overly persistent Hero of Time began to beg a certain mysterious Sheikah for the whereabouts of the Princess enough to make him keep disappearing. I was only sorry that I could not have responded in the same way. After all, you'd think it strange if Sheik started to confess that he felt for you like I do…"

Link's shoulders finally loosened and let down their guard. He sank into the comfort of being near Zelda and free of his burdening thoughts of her hating him somehow. Indeed he had known that they were more than just good friends or co-conspirators against evil, but it was good to have an affirmation, albeit that it was a verbal one and not so nice as the physical one…

He draped an arm over her shoulders and told her, "It would have scared me more than Ganon at first, but after that little poem in the Ice Caverns, I began to have my suspicions about that Sheik fellow."

"You knew it was me?" Zelda demanded, sounding almost disappointed that her trickery had been seen through, even though she wrapped herself further in Link's arm as she did so.

"Not so much knew as I suspected Sheik was not who he said he was. Don't worry. You still left me quite surprised at the end, but let me think I was at least slightly on to you…"

By the time he was finished, Zelda had leaned her entire body against her hero. "You know I enjoy my plotting."

"'A childish mind will turn to noble ambition... Young love will become deep affection...The clear water's surface reflects growth...'" he quoted over the top her head.

"Do you suppose then that Sheik's prophecy has come true?" she said, half-joking.

"In part it has. I only hope we can shine some light on the newest addition to it," Link added.

"We still need a mirror."

"Shine it in Terinae's eyes for all I care," he chuckled and drew her closer. Embracing alone in the library, just as it was beginning to rain lightly on the gardens outside, Link and Zelda enjoyed an uninterrupted kiss.

But they were not alone…

The muffled mention of his name had attracted the Emperor to what he believed to be an empty room. A few peals of laughter later, and he stood scowling now in the doorway, the dimmed light of the now cloudy sky just giving him a silhouette of the two young lovers, with just enough color and detail to let him know who they were.

The Squire, as Terinae knew him, was dressed in cream edged with gold, as if to define him as a Prince and the upsetting force of the Emperor's plans already.

The Princess was clad in a very suitable rose-colored gown that was elaborately embroidered with an artistic representation of her father's Red Eagle, that flew from the flowers that were stitched into the bottom of her skirt to freedom upon her chest and looked as if it would fly right off of her and perch on top of one of the shelves full of Hylian history.

Together, and clearly lovers as they now were, they made up the very force that Terinae could clearly see would topple his plans for Hyrule.

He would not have it.

But instead of marching in on them and tearing Link from his Princess and then tearing the hero's limb from his body as Terinae wished to do, he chose to step away quickly and quietly, leaving them in the bliss of thinking that they were alone and uncaught.

"I will not have it…" the usurper whispered to himself as he stalked away to make an early beginning to his plans for Hyrule, the Princess, and the cursed Squire, whoever that damned boy was…

- Blue Taboo -

To my reviewers:

Just a big thank you this time, mostly because nobody really asked questions. You're all too busy telling me what you think the answers to my little mystery are, which is fun to see. You will eventually see if you are right or wrong (hopefully soon). Also be patient with me, but I think that this last chunk of chapters I have left should go by fast, what the all the fun there is in the end. Anyway! Keep reviewing! Ask questions! Don't ask if Link is really Dorian's son because you will eventually get that answer and all the other spoilers! And thanks again!


	17. Seventeenth

You Wish! Productions presents…

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes

In a place and time where things had been happening at a sickeningly slow pace, no one expected that they would ever pick up so quickly.

Princess Zelda had risen early that morning, as she usually did, just after the first sun's rays peeked into the castle. She and her lady in waiting Calandra were chatting idly and giggling like little girls as the Princess readied herself for the day, with some help from her lady of course. On this morning, they seemed like normal young ladies of the court. Zelda was telling the tale of her romantic encounter with her Squire and Calandra was collecting this information with a smile and not a heavy heart. Spy and would-be-Monarch were simply girls of near eighteen years having fun and being girls.

Link had opted to sleep a little bit longer, but he too awoke with a smile on his face. The previous afternoon had, of course, been wonderful. In the evening, the two of them had managed to steal a few minutes for themselves again, but it had been all too short. He lazily rolled out of bed and greeted little Vesta, who had already come with his breakfast. When his little maid asked him why he seemed so happy and not his usual groggy morning self, Link just ruffled her hair and widened his grin.

The world of Hyrule Castle seemed to happily await the coming of the evening as Link and Zelda did. Both would be too busy to see one another during the day, but their evening revolved around dinner, which they always made a point of exiting early. Today, they had planned to exit very early. Link was thinking about a walk through the gardens. Zelda was pondering the hike up to the tower top, provided that it wasn't too windy. She had always cared about her appearance, but not in a way that consumed her every thought. It was part of her royal life, but now that she had someone to impress, Zelda was finding herself, for the first time, concerned about how she looked in front of Link.

The Squire trained merrily on the courtyard and Sir Banon even pointed out that his student was in the best spirits that he'd seen in a long while.

The Princess talked with ambassadors and went through her paper work, but on this day she actually laughed at the ambassadors' jokes and her signature even seemed to smile.

The Emperor, however, did not smile.

On this day, he kept to himself. He did not leave his chambers. He held council with no one. And it was the ideal day. No one took notice. Calandra was not watching him, for the day had seemed too perfect.

The birds were singing that morning and the afternoon was fair for summer, with a perfect breeze…

But the clouds rolled in as the sun was setting…

The Emperor Terinae finally emerged for dinner. He watched the Princess Zelda come into the Great Hall on the arm of the Squire Link. He grinned as they laughed with one another, coming down the steps. He knew. Tonight was his.

The Squire and the Princess left early as usual. They did not know that the Emperor would be leaving just after them. Now was not the time for him to revel in drink and entertainment. He had work to do.

"Would you like to go to the gardens?" Link asked as soon as they were alone, away from the guards at the entrance to the hall.

"I was thinking we could go to the tower top tonight."

"But we just went there a few days ago!" Link protested and moved his arm from holding Zelda's arm to around her waist. He drew her closer to him and laughed.

"And we were in the gardens only yesterday…" Zelda pointed out as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"We need a new place," he commented.

"I would have to agree," Zelda said calmly, but then let out a bell-like laugh as Link tickled her side just slightly.

As they had done last night, many times, on their way to the gardens the previous night, the young couple couldn't resist a kiss. Link and Zelda were in a dim corridor anyway, one that hardly received any use. No danger in kissing there.

There had been no click of boots on stone, no breath, no sound whatsoever. Only his voice…

"I'm afraid that you will have to forgive the intrusion," the Emperor Terinae said in mocking apology. His words dripped with sick amusement. Zelda felt a chill go up her spine even before she realized that they had been caught by the worst person possible to catch them.

Link quickly turned and stared directly at the Emperor, his eyes defensive, ready to counter. Zelda too looked at the usurper with defiance, but disguised it as simple annoyance to keep up at least the smallest amount of appearances.

Terinae stood before them, garbed as usual in his gilded armor and short cape. The foreign man did not seemed at all shocked, but rather entirely smug.

"You must think me terribly rude, but I've something of great importance to tell you both. I was certainly luck to catch you…"

"What do you want?" Zelda let slip from her façade. She knew well enough to feel threatened. Swift thinking and witty words would not get her out of this one.

"I will be frank, since it is past time to be dancing this diplomatic dance. Princess, Squire, I want you out of Hyrule Castle. Not forever mind you, but for only two days. Leave tomorrow morning and return two days after."

"Or else what?" Link demanded.

"It's always implied, isn't it? Need I even say it? Well, if I must. Or else I will kill the both of you and take Hyrule for myself by force and no one will stop me. My army marches for Castle Town tonight. If they find you here tomorrow morning, then I am afraid that an army of incompetent guards and four old Knights and their Squire could not defend this kingdom. I have you, Highness, and Hyrule in the palm of my hand right now…so I would advise you and your tool to listen," Terinae said with an odd calm, but it was clear that he was working to keep it.

Link was about to spit back an impulsive reply at him, or shove one gauntleted fist right into the usurper's face…

But Zelda, ever the voice of rationality, spoke up first. "You are right. I admire the might of your army as much as I loathe it. So long as none of my people are harmed, we will do as you wish."

"Worry not, Princess, I will harm not a hair on a Hylian head. You have my word and you know that I keep that."

Zelda then squeezed Link's hand, which she had been digging her fingernails into the entire time and afterwards loosened her grip. The hero was still hot with anger, but he knew to trust her and did not make any motion to speak or act against Terinae. However, the great snarl on his face did not change.

"Then we will be gone by dawn and return again in two days. I should hope that I find this castle and its town almost entirely unchanged," Zelda added.

"That, Milady, I can't guarantee, but I wouldn't worry about it if I were you…"

Then the usurper turned around, pivoting on his surprisingly silent feet and walked briskly away from them.

Terinae almost laughed.

Link almost screamed.

"Don't say anything," Zelda whispered harshly. She could see he was seething. "This is bad, I know. Terinae now has the upper hand and we've got to do what he says. It's true, he could crush us and Hyrule right now. Your sword and my magic combined couldn't hold off all of his soldiers for long. It's simply impossible. I was in this position before, and that's why Terinae is even here. We have no choice."

"But why?" Link asked through clenched teeth.

"I don't truly know, but I think that Terinae has found what both sides of this fight have been looking for. We've got no choice, Link." When the Zelda uttered those last words, the strength in her voice faltered. It reminded her of time, not too long ago, when Hyrule was in disarray after her father's death and she had no other choice but to hand her kingdom over into the hands of stranger, one that she knew had no urge to restore her to the throne.

Link's muscles immediately loosened, their former angry tension forgotten in an instant. He held Zelda tighter to him, sensing her fear. She too latched on tighter. "You're right," he reassured her. "We have no other choice. If we die, if you die, then Hyrule is his. Even he has the upper hand, so long as we are alive, we can fight him."

Link pretended not to notice the tear that soaked into the front of his tunic. Zelda released her death grip on him after a few moments, trying to gather her strength. "Yes. There's always hope," she said mostly to herself.

Link nodded slowly and seemed to become lost in his own thoughts.

Then Zelda's voice slowly came to him, "I suppose we should get ready to leave. Should we meet at the stables?"

"No," was Link's immediate answer. "Something's up, and until we know what Terinae wants exactly, I'm not letting you out of my sight. I'm going with you."

"All right."

The pair sounded utterly defeated. The hope they had had, the fire of their insurgence against this unlawful usurper had died. The tide had turned just when they thought that they were about to win. When all seemed good and right, evil had stepped in.

Silent as ghosts, the two Hylians wound their way up to Zelda's chambers through the abandoned corridors of the castle. Everyone was still at dinner, laughing and drinking the night away. Their allies knew nothing of this. The Knights would retire to their Den and Link would not be missed by them. More often than not, when he went off with Zelda, they had learned not to expect him back. Banon and Damen would joke about it. Cortain would smile, remembering his youth. Wrasten would scowl and say something about how it wasn't right, since the boy was just a commoner. No one listened to that kind of talk anymore, though.

Calandra wasn't even there to greet them when they reached Zelda's door. She had her nightly rounds to worry about.

However, as they stepped in, someone stepped out of the shadows…

"What's the matter?" Impa asked, sensing their apprehension and defeat without delay.

"Terinae made a move," Zelda began simply, drifting over to the door of her study. "He wants Link and I out, but only for two days. His army is marching for Castle Town tonight, as you well know, and they will be officially stationed here this morning. He says that if Link or myself are found within the walls of castle or even the town, we will be killed and Hyrule will be subjugated under him by force."

"That's certainly a mysterious threat. You're doing as he says, of course?" Impa seemed entirely not phased by the incident that had shaken Zelda and angered Link so much. Perhaps, in all of her uncounted years, she had played this game many times.

"We've no other choice," Zelda repeated for her former nursemaid. However, her eyes looked to the scrolls still laid out on her desk. She went in and quickly snatched them up to keep whatever secrets they might hold to herself.

"That's the point, I'm afraid," the Sheikah stated, then finally seemed to soften up. She went to Zelda and laid a comforting hand on the girl's arm. "Just see that you comply with his demands and keep yourself safe. I will keep the castle for you."

"It's good to know I have someone to watch over this place while I'm gone, but Terinae told me that none would be harmed while I was gone," the Princess told her.

"And hopefully none shall be harmed when you come back. You'd best be getting your things together. I'll go find someone to send up some provisions for the two of you as well." Then she looked at Link. "That means you too, young man."

"I'm staying right here, if you don't mind," he told her.

Impa was about to reply in a less than understanding tone, but Zelda cut her off, "Yes he is. The Goddesses only know what Terinae wants right now. I know you can protect me Impa and I can take care of myself as well, but I feel better having Link with me, and we probably shouldn't be separated tonight."

"Well that's logical," the older woman deduced, then went to fetch a stray servant.

Zelda packed surprisingly light for a Princess. No flashy gowns or glittering jewelry graced her saddlebags. Link was surprised to see that she owned such simple clothes, but he supposed that they were merely a sort of precaution for events such as this. Even with simple clothes, however, Zelda was certainly recognizable. She threw on her spring cloak as well, not for any sort of chill, but because its great hood could hide her face well enough. Impa's servant came in with a bit of cold provisions for them, just enough for two days on the road. Lastly came the scrolls of Sheikah wisdom. Terinae was to have no chance of getting his hands on them.

The halls were already silent and the castle asleep by the time they came to Link's room, though they did so through the secret passage under the floor and between the walls. Link did not travel so light. His main concerns, though, were not in the nature of clothing. He could be a Knight or he could be a beggar. There was a certain wavering quality to his looks that allowed him to be whatever he wanted to. He donned some practice clothes, just a simple tunic and trousers, and left his fine jackets and embroidered shirts behind. His bags soon became filled with other things, however. Two bows, one for himself and another for Zelda, just in case. She had insisted. His gilded broadsword and the Mirror Shield were already slung over his back. Link threw in other items as well; various potions, the hookshot that he never went anywhere without, and a few other deadly things. He was not to be taken by surprise.

"All right," he said, finally satisfied but still wishing he had time to organize and bring his entire arsenal, "Let's go."

Link turned to lead the way out of his door and into the night, but something stood in his way.

"Don't worry," Damen assured them. "Lady Impa told me everything. I had wanted to speak with her Highness, but when you were not there, Lady Impa felt it wise to impart to me what was going on."

"What is it that you wanted to tell me, Damen?" Zelda asked nervously, fearing more bad news that she didn't need.

"Nothing now, besides to wish you luck and to tell you that those loyal to you will monitor the Emperor's actions in your absence, as well as make your being gone seem normal and routine," the Old Knight reassured her.

"Thank you, Damen. I appreciate it greatly."

"Anything for you, Highness," he said with a small bow and stepped out of the doorway to let them through.

Zelda slipped past, but Damen held Link's shoulder. "If you are a true Knight of Hyrule, then you will see that the Princess comes to no harm whatsoever."

"It is both my duty and my will, Damen," he told his mentor. "Besides," Link whispered, "I love her."

Damen grinned and squeezed the shoulder of his "nephew". "I know you do. Good luck."

The Old Knight then released the young hero and turned back for his chambers.

Link and Zelda then headed down the corridor for the back stair that would take them to the stables with the least amount of possible questions from the few people that might still be up and about in Hyrule castle. Link let one long glance slide down the royal corridor to the very end where the Emperor probably lie asleep.

However, his door was open and candlelight shone softly from within. Just as Link was about to look away and hurry on, Terinae himself stepped out into the hall, completely unaware that his enemy was watching him. The Emperor seemed overly pleased with himself, grinning and looking as if he was about to break into a bit of victorious laughter. Link snarled again and then realized he was alone. Zelda had run off to the stairs and was beckoning for him to follow, but something caught his eye before he could…

The Mirror Shield shifted on his back, ever so slightly. A light flashed on its smooth surface, one that resembled nothing of candlelight and the silhouette of the Emperor. Link quietly shifted the shield just a little more so that he could see what it was. Against the light of the doorway, in the mirror's reflection, was not a man, but some great creature for which Link had no name. It was horned and heavily muscled. Its head nearly hit the ceiling.

The hero would have examined this anomaly that made so much sense longer, but Terinae's, or rather, this monster's head suddenly picked up and sensed that it was not alone. Link ran silently to the stairs and he and Zelda made a run to the stables, neither saying anything or even breathing too loud. Zelda feared a man, but Link now knew to fear something much greater.

He would not speak. He merely tacked up Epona and Zelda's horse as fast as he could, since the stable boys were all long abed, and loaded them up at a record pace.

It was not until they spirited out of the castle through the delivery entrance and out of the town through its many winding back alleys did Link finally say.

"I saw him for what he was, in the mirror. Terinae is not a man. He is some sort of demon…"

"What?" Zelda demanded, not believing her ears.

"In my shield…when I saw him in the hall. My eyes told me he was a man, same as I've always seen him, but the reflection was one of a demon, something I've never seen the likes of before. He's not a man…"

"And my castle is his tomorrow…"

"This has to end. It must end now." The hero rode out into the field with righteous determination shining in his eyes. He had saved Hyrule from a man who was a demon before and he could certainly do it again. The battle was now on Link's field.

- Blue Taboo -

Pardon the months of delay again, but you know me. I'm slow. The goal is to get TMTA finished by the end of this year, but I'm not sure if that's gonna happen, but I can always try.

Anyway, time to respond to reviews...

**Hououza- **Yes, Zelink is the way to go in my opinion as well. Makes sense...I mean...after saving her through so many games, you think Zelda would certainly be grateful to our hero, if not feel a little something for him. And why does he keep on saving her anyway? Not for money or fame, that's for sure. Link gets screwed out of those all the time...

**Zonr-00-** TMTA will run for 20 chapters with a possible epilogue. I also love the crazy stuff Sheik says in OoT and I think it has a lot to do with the underlying themes of that game as well as Link and Zelda's relationship. I love using things like that. The more references to the games, the more valid a fic seems to me.

**Korrin-** Um...that's totally not the point of this fic, but...uh...yeah. I'm an English major...and right now I'm gonna tell you to skip a Literature class or two. This story is in no way feminist, though I like to see Zelda involved in things as she is in OoT and WW. Also, I'm going to encourage you not to skip history class. Female monarchs were extremely rare in medieval times. Only in the renaissance did you see strong female monarchs like Elizabeth I of England and the like.

**Queen of Zan-** Actually you're not alone. There's a lot of Malinkers out there, and though I don't agree with it myself, I can't deny that that pairing is really popular. I'm glad you're liking this pairing though! It's always good to give something new a chance.

**Richard of Greko-** Eh it's not just that. Link always came off as sort of shy to me. As courageous in battle as he is, you don't see him going around and talking up a storm. I always thought of him as socially awkward in that way and I think it's kind of cute really.

To everyone else, thank you for reading and reviewing. This story will be finished soon and then I can start on my next one. It should be just as good...maybe even better...


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